From the Desks of Fr. Bob & Fr. Chris

May 19, 2019- “I give you a new commandment: love one another.” With these words, Jesus sums up the law and the prophets in one concise phrase. Love one another. After 2,000 years, you’d think we’d have it figured out by now! But all too often we fail in this commandment. Perhaps we mistake “love” for mere “common decency.” Perhaps we’ve been betrayed, or our own visions of love have been tarnished or misrepresented in our lives. Blessedly, Jesus doesn’t leave us without a guide.

“As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” Jesus himself modeled what this love should look like. So what are some of the characteristics of the love of Christ? Humility, for one. St. Paul writes that Jesus “emptied Himself.” In becoming man, Jesus puts aside the full splendor of the Godhead. Not only does he become human, but he takes on many of the mundane privations of human life. He spent most of his life in relative poverty - especially by our standards - as a common laborer. When he began gaining popularity as a preacher, he still traveled on foot and spent nights in other people’s homes or outdoors.

Jesus’ love is generous. He was always available to the crowds and to being interrupted by people in need. He invested time in his disciples and patiently taught them about the kingdom of God. The love of Jesus is also courageous. He encountered many people deemed less worthy of human respect, due to being public sinners or having a physical or mental disability. Jesus was brave in breaking these social boundaries to show care and concern to the outcast. These traits are possible for us to imitate! Indeed, we are hardly identifiable as Christians without them. “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

4th Sunday of Easter

We all face obstacles in life. Perhaps it’s a lost job, the death of a loved one, a sudden accident that places an unexpected dent in our finances. Sometimes the challenges are of our own making. Perhaps we’ve developed patterns of sin in our personal lives or our family relationships. We’ve all felt the jolting shock of, “This is all my fault.” How do these things affect our relationship with God? Or, perhaps more poignantly, how do we now view God’s relationship to us?

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus’ words to us are encouraging ones. “No one can take them out of my hand.” Did you catch that? In case you didn’t, Jesus reemphasizes the point again a few verses later. “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.” God’s grip of providential care and mercy is so strong that nothing can separate us. We might think things take us out of God’s hand - life circumstances, tragedy, our lukewarm attitudes towards faith - but Jesus tells us otherwise. Nothing, no one, can take us out of the Father’s hand, and we can’t take ourselves out! We can’t remove ourselves from Him, not entirely. Even when grievous sin hardens us to grace, His love is still sustaining us in existence. And His mercy is always awaiting our repentance.

“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” This Sunday, let us heed the voice of the Good Shepherd. Whatever we feel might take us from God’s hand, we can turn back to Him. God is always inviting us to follow Him and to trust in His care and be sustained by His hand.

ReflectionDuring the month of May, the Church shows a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and our spiritual mother. Each week during this month, a special reflection or prayer will be shared in this column to help us to foster a greater devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart which offers pure and undivided love. This week, we share a writing from St. Ephrem, a Deacon in the year 373.

"Blessed Virgin, immaculate and pure you are the sinless Mother of your Son, the mighty Lord of the universe. You are holy and inviolate, the hope of the hopeless and sinful; we sing your praises. We praise you as full of every grace, for you bore the God-Man. We all venerate you; we invoke you and implore your aid … Holy and immaculate Virgin … be our intercessor and advocate at the hour of death and judgment … you are holy in the sight of God, to Whom be honor and glory, majesty, and power forever.”

Reflection: ResurrectionAs we celebrate this great Season of Easter, we are continually reminded of the grace and eternal life promised to us in Baptism. Take a few moments this week to meditate on this excerpt from a homily written by Saint Basil the Great in the year 364.

Our Lord made a covenant with us through baptism in order to give us eternal life. There is in baptism an image both of death and of life, the water being the symbol of death, the Spirit giving the pledge of life. The association of water and the Spirit is explained by the twofold purpose for which baptism was instituted, namely, to destroy the sin in us so that it could never again give birth to death, and to enable us to live by the Spirit and so win the reward of holiness.

The water into which the body enters as into a tomb symbolizes death; the Spirit instills into us his life-giving power, awakening our souls from the death of sin to the life that they had in the beginning. This then is what it means to be born again of water and the Spirit: we die in the water, and we come to life again through the Spirit.

To signify this death and to enlighten the baptized by transmitting to them knowledge of God, the great sacrament of baptism is administered by means of a triple immersion and the invocation of each of the three divine Persons. Whatever grace there is in the water comes not from its own nature but from the presence of the Spirit, since baptism is not a cleansing of the body, but a pledge made to God from a clear conscience. As a preparation for our life after the resurrection, our Lord tells us in the gospel how we should live. Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, we ascend to the kingdom of heaven, and blessing is showered upon us, both in this world and in the world to come.

ReflectionDuring this season of grace, Lent, we are called to grow closer to Christ through prayer. Take a few moments this week to reflect on the excerpt below written by the priest Tertullian in the third century.

Since God asks for prayer offered in spirit and in truth, how can he deny anything to this kind of prayer? How great is the evidence of its power, as we read and hear and believe. Of old, prayer was able to rescue from fire and beasts and hunger, even before it received its perfection from Christ. How much greater then is the power of Christian prayer. No longer does prayer bring an angel of comfort to the heart of a fiery furnace, or close up the mouths of lions, or transport to the hungry food from the fields. No longer does it remove all sense of pain by the grace it wins for others. But it gives the armor of patience to those who suffer, who feel pain, who are distressed. It strengthens the power of grace, so that faith may know what is gaining from the Lord, and understand what it is suffering for the name of God.

In the past prayer was able to bring down punishment, rout armies, withhold the blessing of rain. Now, however, the prayer of the just turns aside the whole anger of God, keeps vigil for its enemies, pleads for persecutors. Is it any wonder that it can call down water from heaven when it could obtain fire from heaven as well? Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God. But Christ has willed that it should work no evil, and has given it all power over good.

Its only art is to call back the souls of the dead from the very journey into death, to give strength to the weak, to heal the sick, to exorcise the possessed, to open prison cells, to free the innocent from their chains. Prayer cleanses from sin, drives away temptations, stamps out persecutions, comforts the fainthearted, gives new strength to the courageous, brings travelers safely home, calms the waves, confounds robbers, feeds the poor, overrules the rich, lifts up the fallen, supports those who are falling, sustains those who stand firm. All the angels pray. Every creature prays. Cattle and wild beasts pray and bend the knee. As they come from their barns and caves they look out to heaven and call out, lifting up their spirit in their own fashion. The birds too rise and lift themselves up to heaven: they open out their wings, instead of hands, in the form of a cross, and give voice to what seems to be a prayer. What more need be said on the duty of prayer? Even the Lord himself prayed. To him be honor and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Reflection - Prayer & Fasting - Part IHow are you doing with your Lenten sacrifices? Take a few moments to reflect on the excerpt from the homily by Saint Peter Chrysologus as you move on in your Lenten journey. The second half of the homily will be published in next week’s bulletin.

There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

Fasting is the soul of prayer, almsgiving is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

Let this be the pattern for all men when they practice mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you. Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defense, a threefold united prayer in our favor.

Previous Bulletins:

May 12, 2019

May 5, 2019

April 28, 2019Divine Mercy Sunday

April 21, 2019 Easter Sunday

April 14, 2019

April 7, 2019

March 31, 2019

March 24, 2019

Reflection - The TransfigurationEach year on the Second Sunday of Lent, we hear the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor in the presence of Peter, James and John. Take a few moments to reflect on the excerpt from the homily below by Saint Leo the Great written in 451.

The Lord reveals his glory in the presence of chosen witnesses. His body is like that of the rest of mankind, but he makes it shine with such splendor that his face becomes like the sun in glory, and his garments as white as snow. The great reason for this transfiguration was to remove the scandal of the cross from the hearts of his disciples, and to prevent the humiliation of his voluntary suffering from disturbing the faith of those who had witnessed the surpassing glory that lay concealed.

With no less forethought he was also providing a firm foundation for the hope of holy Church. The whole body of Christ was to understand the kind of transformation that it would receive as his gift. The members of that body were to look forward to a share in that glory which first blazed out in Christ their head.

No one should fear to suffer for the sake of justice; no one should lose confidence in the reward that has been promised. The way to rest is through toil, the way to life is through death. Christ has taken on himself the whole weakness of our lowly human nature. If then we are steadfast in our faith in him and in our love for him, we win the victory that he has won, we receive what he has promised. When it comes to obeying the commandments or enduring adversity, the words uttered by the Father should always echo in our ears: This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him.

A MessageMy beloved parish family,Know that you all are in my heart and prayers during this time of transition for the Church in Pittsburgh and a time of purification for the Church at large. Through much prayer and discernment, I have decided to take a leave of absence from being a seminarian for the diocese of Pittsburgh. I want you all to hear it from me, knowing that each of you has impacted me dearly in my road towards priesthood. I want to thank you for your abundant and gracious support over the two and a half years I have been in seminary, from care packages and endless letters, to the constant reminders of your steadfast prayer. Your prodigal love has been overwhelming, just as the Father’s Love! I can never thank you enough. I know that your prayer has bolstered me to continue through hardships along the way but most importantly has given me the courage to follow the Lord in this next step, letting go and taking a trusting step into the dark. I am overcome by a supernatural peace in this decision. The desire for priesthood is ever set in my heart and I know that the Father is leading me. I will be in and out of Pittsburgh these next few months visiting religious orders. Please keep me in your prayers and know you will always remain in mine. For the sake of us all, never cease loving as you have loved me, it will change the world.

Your son,Gabriel Salibi

Reflection - Ash WednesdayThis week, we begin our Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday when we spend 40 days in preparation for the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. The theme of the season is to Repent and Believe in the Gospel. The following excerpt on Repentance from the letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement, Pope was written around95 AD.

Let us fix our attention on the blood of Christ and recognize how precious it is to God his Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all of the world. If we review the various ages of history, we will see that in every generation the Lord has offered the opportunity of repentance to any who were willing to turn to him. When Noah preached God’s message of repentance, all who listened to him were saved. Jonah told the Ninevites they were going to be destroyed, but when they repented, their prayers gained God’s forgiveness for their sins, and they were saved, even though they were not of God’s people.

We should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride and foolish anger. Rather, we should act in accordance with the Scriptures, as the Holy Spirit says: The wise man must not glory in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches. Rather, let him who glories glory in the Lord by seeking him and doing what is right and just. Recall especially what the Lord Jesus said when he taught gentleness and forbearance. Be merciful, he said, so that you may have mercy shown to you.

Forgive, so that you may be forgiven. As you treat others, so you will be treated. As you give, so you will receive. As you judge, so you will be judged. As you are kind to others, so you will be treated kindly. The measure of your giving will be the measure of your receiving. Let these commandments and precepts strengthen us to live in humble obedience to his sacred words.

Reflection - The Holy FamilyThe month of February is traditionally dedicated to the Holy Family. Between the events which marked Christmas and the beginning of Christ’s public life, the Church has traditionally reflected on the example of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph for the emulation of the Christian family.

Christ could have come to earth in any number of ways, yet God chose to send His Son as a Child born into a family. In so doing, He set the Holy Family as an example for us all and made the Christian family much more than a natural institution.

Take some time this week to pray the following prayer for your family and for those families that you know and love.

O God, Heavenly Father, it was part of Your eternal decree that Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, should form a holy family with Mary, His blessed mother, and His foster father, Saint Joseph. In Nazareth, home life was sanctified, and a perfect example was given to every Christian family. Grant, we beseech You, that we may fully comprehend and faithfully imitate the virtues of the Holy Family so that we may be united with them one day in their heavenly glory. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reflection - The Chair of Saint PeterThis Friday, we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter. This feast celebrating Peter’s special authority and ministry, symbolized by the chair of a teacher, was celebrated in Rome from at least the 4th century. The excerpt from a homily by Saint Leo the Great written around the year 451 denotes how the Church rises on the foundation of Peter’s faith.

Out of the whole world one man, Peter, is chosen to preside at the calling of all nations, and to be set over all the apostles and all the fathers of the Church. Though there are in God’s people many shepherds, Peter is thus appointed to rule in his own person those whom Christ also rules as the original ruler.

Whatever Christ has willed to be shared in common by Peter and the other leaders of the Church, it is only through Peter that he has given to others what he has not refused to bestow on them.

Peter says: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replies: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” You are blessed, he means, because my Father has taught you. It was not flesh and blood that pointed me out to you, but the one whose only-begotten Son I am. You are Peter: though I am the inviolable rock, the cornerstone that makes both one, the foundation apart from which no one can lay any other, yet you also are a rock, for you are given solidity by my strength, so that which is my very own because of my power is common between us through your participation.

Reflection for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary TimeDo you have enough? Many of us come from a nation of material abundance. We have all the things we could possibly need not only to survive, but to thrive - food, shelter, mental ability, income, access to medical care. Most people in human history lived with far less than we. So why are we so dissatisfied? Some Christians can be drawn to the “prosperity Gospel.” This is the idea that following God will bring us material abundance in this life.

That surely seems to be the story of today’s Gospel! Peter and his friends chose - with some faith - to put out their nets a final time at Jesus’ command. “They caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking.” What gift! What abundance! What prosperity! Peter and his friends caught more fish than they’d ever seen. Yet what is their response to this material abundance, this gift from God? They leave it behind. “When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.”

Praying for God to meet our physical, material needs is not a bad thing! Jesus himself includes “give us this day our daily bread” in the prayer he teaches his disciples. The question is, how do we respond when our prayers are answered? Do we thank God briefly, or perhaps ignore Him completely and move on with our lives? Or do we respond as Peter did? “God ? You showed up in an area that has no bearing on my eternal salvation. You gave me a gift I didn’t even really need. You love me! You really do love me.” Is our gratitude only surface level? Or do we allow ourselves, like Peter did, to respond with wonder, awe, and deeper discipleship?

February 3, 2019- Reflection - Saint AgathaOn Tuesday February 5, we celebrate the Feast ofSaint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr. She was martyred in Sicily in 251 AD. Below is an excerpt from a homily by Saint Methodius of Sicily about the great love Agatha showed our Lord.

The woman who invites us to this banquet is both a wife and virgin. To use the analogy of Paul, she is the bride who has been betrothed to one husband, Christ. A true virgin, she wore the glow of pure conscience and the crimson of the Lamb’s blood for her cosmetics. Again and again she meditated on the death of her eager lover. For her, Christ’s death was recent, his blood was still moist. Her robe is the mark of her faithful witness to Christ. It bears the indelible marks of his crimson blood and the shining threads of her eloquence. She offers to all who come after her these treasures of her eloquent confession.

Agatha, the name of our saint, means “good.” She was truly good, for she lived as a child of God. She was also given as the gift of God, the source of all goodness to her bridegroom, Christ, and to us. For she grants us a share in her goodness. What can give greater good than the Sovereign Good? Whom could anyone find more worthy of celebration with hymns of praise than Agatha?

Agatha, her goodness coincides with her name and way of life. She won a good name by her noble deeds, and by her name she points to the nobility of those deeds. Agatha, her mere name wins all men over to her company. She teaches them by her example to hasten with her to the true Good, God alone.

January 27th 2019 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

“He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up.” Did you grow up in a small town? Whenever you see stories of tight-knit communities, a common refrain is that everybody knows everybody and that’s very difficult to change. If you leave and return, people expect you to be and act a certain way, and it’s strange for them if you do not. In today’s Gospel, we see that Jesus was already moving “in the power of the Spirit and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He...was praised by all.” His ministry has begun! News of his growing popularity must have proceeded him to Nazareth.

Upon his arrival, he “went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day.” For the first few moments, he is what they expect - their hometown boy returning to pay his respects. As was common of men at the time, he takes a turn reading a passage of Sacred Scripture. It is a bold passage, one he selects intentionally. “He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” After reading about holy anointings, liberation for the poor and prisoners, and physical healings, Jesus does the unthinkable. “‘Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.’”

We are all called to imitate Christ wherever we are. This might mean doing the unexpected! All too often we’re content with the daily status quo, and so are the people around us. When we take a stand for Christian values, change our lifestyle to reflect the Gospel, and work for justice in society, we may make others uncomfortable. But Jesus doesn’t call us to the same life we lived yesterday or the year before that. He is calling all of us - each and every one of us - to deeper conversion of heart. No matter what other people expect, will you love in the Spirit of the Lord today?

January 20th, 2019 - The Christmas decorations have returned to storage for another year as the Church calendar now returns to Ordinary Time. As we look back, we are grateful to all those who worked so very hard to make the Christmas season such a joyous and festive one. From those who clean the church, to those who decorate it, to those involved in music ministry, to all of our liturgical ministers, to the liturgy planning team, and to all those who assist in any way, a heartfelt thanks for sharing your God given gifts and talents. Through your efforts, you have so wonderfully enhanced our Christmas celebrations.

On a personal level, I join Father Chris, Deacon Gary, Deacon Cliff and Deacon Ming in expressing a sincere thank-you to all those who sent thoughtful prayers, gifts, cards, letters, and goodies to us. Your overwhelming generosity has touched our hearts in a special way. May the Lord continue to bless you abundantly throughout the New Year for your kindness and generosity.

As far as the goodies go, you’ll be seeing a lot more of us in the near future (if you know what I mean!).

In just three-and-a-half years, priesthood has afforded me countless incredible opportunities: to bless, consecrate, pray, mourn, guide, absolve, witness, counsel, serve, heal, teach and listen. Just as in every vocation (be it priest, husband, mother, surgeon, sister, deacon, librarian, cantor, father, homemaker, wife, son, lector, daughter, etc.), I as a priest can allow the anxiety of things get in the way of life’s most profound moments.

On this weekend, when we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, I am reminded of how many baptisms I have already been called to perform in just a few short years of ministry. To be honest, I really am usually toopre-occupied with getting everything “right,” about whether or not the baby will cry, if the water temperature is warm enough without being too hot… Am I using the correct Holy Oils at the right times? Is the Easter Candle lit? Did I sign all the paperwork? Did I leave the proper forms on the right desk in the office? Where are the light switches? Why is that child climbing on the altar? Did I just call the baby the right name? Is that guy the father or godfather? How are the Pens playing? Etc. etc. etc.

It is so easy to forget what is actually happening!

I fear that we, as a culture and Church, have over-simplified Baptism to a kind of photo-shoot opportunity, or, at best, a kind of sentimental initiation into a Jesus fan-club. If that is all Baptism is, no wonder the popular trend among young parents is to hold off and let their children decide whether or not they would like to be baptized. No wonder scores of people in Germany are requesting to be “un-baptized,” and are crying foul when the Church honestly responds: we can’t do that.

Baptism is, to be sure, a serious commitment to be undertaken by the parents, godparents, and parish community. But the power of the sacrament does not lie solely in our ability to choose it! The power of the sacrament rests in Christ!

Did that child have a choice whether or not to be born? Yet, born they were. If the child is sick, does the parent wait until the child is capable of choosing his or her own doctor? Christ did not enter the waters of the Jordan River to be registered as Member #1 in some new fan-club. Christ was baptized in order to make our own baptism a re-birth in Him, to be made new as members of His Body.

Baptism means that, by God’s grace and mercy, no matter what deserts or wars or riches or sufferings or successes or potholes we come across in this life, we are members of something far greater than anything, anything, anything that could hold us down, hold us up, or hold us back…!

We are born into this passing, fragile world from our mother’s womb; we are born into Christ’s victory from the womb of our Mother, the Church. Make no mistake: Heaven is forever, and so is Baptism. Choose wisely.

December 30th - A continued Merry Christmas andHappy New Year to yinz all!

The rush may be over, the radio stations may already be back to playing summertime oldies, but we need to resist the temptation which we fall into so often: to rush, to move on, to think about five steps ahead rather than just where we are.

Where are we? We’re still in the midst of Christmas, of a time of celebration. In our high-strung culture, we mustn’t mistake down-time for time to move on to the next thing, to the next thing, to the next, to the next, to the next… The next thing will always be there, guaranteed—but, just the same, Christ is here now. God (GOD!) took on flesh and blood and broke into our world of sin and darkness and despair, all in order to afford us hope: hope that there is meaning to suffering, hope that there is every reason to rejoice, hope that Hope Himself has come to dwell among us!

New Years Eve has become, in many ways, a night to get over the supposed passing of the holidays with a final hurrah. But we are truly in the midst of a blessed season! One of the ways the Church reminds us of this is by punctuating the Christmas season with feasts: the Feast of the Holy Innocents, those first martyrs who died for Christ when he (and they) were still only infants; the Feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church; and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

Suffice it to say, Catholic veneration and devotion to the Virgin Mary is often misunderstood. The term “Mother of God” is misinterpreted as a title of divinity or worship. I assure you, it is not. To make a long story short: there was heavy debate in the ancient world and Church as to whether Christ was more human or divine. Some contended that Christ was fully divine with a kind of human “mask” put on; still others thought of him as merely human with an “appearance” of divinity. The truth finally won out: Christ is miraculously 100% God and 100% human, at the same time, without question. The term Mother of God, ‘Theotokos’ (Θεοτόκος) in the original Greek, was the Church’s way to express this belief, relating that if Mary was the mother of Christ’s humanity, she was also mother of his divinity; otherwise, we’d have to start splitting Christ up into different “parts,” which itself leads to a whole new layer of theological mess.

So, this New Years Day, keep the holiday spirit by thinking of the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God as a kind of “second Christmas.” Christ has been born among us, God Himself has come to dwell with us!

And, remember, if Mary raised Christ, she can raise a good Christian…

Fr. Chris

December 23rd - “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” (Matt 1:23)

In a world and Church that has been rocked by so much darkness in this past year, we should remember the Rock on which our faith is founded: God (GOD!) took on flesh to dwell amongst us, His own creation. That’s like the painter jumping into his painting, or an author jumping into the pages of his novel to die for his characters (even when those characters had rebelled!).

At the culmination of such a year of trial and night, let us remember that deepest night, when the whole world seemed lost to despair and confusion—a world that did not know that God Himself could have a face or an utterable name. A night in which a star appeared, angels sang, and a Baby was born.

Around Christmas-time, the days start to lengthen again, even if only slightly, beginning that inevitable slide into Springtime. Just the same: it is always coldest and darkest just before sunrise.

No matter the darkness in our lives or hearts, no matter the fear or tribulation, let us announce this Christmas season with renewed courage, louder than any generation before us: “God is with us!”

Fr. Chris Mannerino,Parochial Vicar

ReflectionThis week we celebrate another Marian feast when we remember Our Lady of Guadalupe on Wednesday, December 12. Below is the story of this Marian apparition.

The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe commemorates the apparition of the Blessed Mother to Juan Diego, a 57-year-old Aztec Indian peasant. Our Lady appeared to Juan as an indigenous woman and spoke to him in his own indigenous language. She appeared to Juan Diego four times between December 9 and 12 in 1531 on Tepeyac Hill located just north of Mexico City. Juan Diego, whose feast day is December 9, was canonized by St. Pope John Paul II in 2002.

This is the only apparition where Our Lady left a miraculous image of herself, on the tilma (cloak) given to Juan Diego. The apparition is also unique in that Mary appeared pregnant instead of holding the infant Jesus. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron of Mexico and the Americas. The feast day is one of the most popular religious celebrations in Mexico, Latin America and the United States. St. Juan Diego is the first indigenous saint from the Americas and holds a special place in the hearts of the Mexican people.

Our Lady of Guadalupe holds such a special place in the hearts of the Mexican people and many others throughout the world because she is a symbol of faith, hope and consolation. In 16th century Mexico, the apparition and message of Our Lady of Guadalupe offered a message of hope to the oppressed indigenous peoples of Mexico and a reconciliation with their Spanish rulers who treated the indigenous as outcasts. The apparition also saw the end of the human sacrifices of the Aztecs and worship of stone gods as millions of indigenous people converted to Christianity within a few years of the apparition. www.catholicculture.org

Reflection- As we begin the new Liturgical year and the Season of Advent, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 when we remember that Mary, because she was to be the original tabernacle of the Savior, was conceived without sin. Take a few moments to reflect on the words of Saint Padre Pio written about this doctrine.

From all eternity Almighty God took delight in what was to be the most perfect work of His hands, and anticipated this wonderful plan with an outpouring of His Grace. Man, created innocent, fell by disobeying Him; the mark of Original Sin remained engraved on his forehead and that of his progeny who will bear its consequences until the end of time.

A woman brought ruin, a woman was to bring salvation. The one, being tempted by a serpent, stamped the mark of sin on the human race; the other was to rise through grace, pure and immaculate. She would crush the head of the serpent who was helpless before Her and who struggled in vain under Her heel; for She was conceived without sin, and through Her came grace to mankind.

Protected with grace by Him Who was to be the Savior of Mankind that had fallen into sin, She escaped all shadow of evil. She sprang from the mind of God as a pure ray of light, and will shine like a morning star over the human race that turns to Her. She will be the sure guide who will direct our steps toward the Divine Son Who is Jesus Christ. He makes Her radiant with divine splendor and points to Her as our model of purity and sanctity. No creature surpasses Her, but all creation defers to Her through the Grace of Him Who made Her Immaculate. He Whom She was to carry in Her womb is the Son of God participating with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the glory of Her conception.

Clothed in light from the moment of Her conception, She grew in grace and comeliness. After Almighty God, She is the most perfect of creatures; more pure than the angels; God is indeed well pleased in Her, since She most resembles Him and is the only worthy repository of His secrets. The Immaculate Conception is the first step in our salvation. Through this singular and unique gift Mary received a profusion of divine grace, and through Her cooperation She became worthy of absorbing infinitely more.

November 18th -This Thursday, November 22, we will celebrate our first Thanksgiving Day Mass as the parish grouping ofSt. Catherine of Sweden / St. Richard. It will take place at St. Richard at 9:30 am. Please join us as we give thanks to God for all the many blessings bestowed upon us.

At this Mass we will share our blessings in a tangible way by conducting a food drive for the North Hills Community Outreach Food Bank. You are invited to bring non-perishable items with you to this Mass and place them in the designated area near the sanctuary when you arrive. They will be blessed during Mass and then be distributed to the food bank.

Our offertory collection on Thanksgiving Day will go to the Little Sisters of the Poor to support their ministry to the poor, sick, and elderly of our surrounding communities. Please be generous in your response.

As we gather to give thanks for our abundant blessings, may we share much with those who have little.

Thanksgiving Blessings!Father Bob

Gospel Meditation32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In 1 Samuel, God advises the prophet Samuel not to observe as men see but as God sees. He tells him to “look to the heart.” This is the movement of this Sunday’s Gospel reading. “Beware the scribes,” Jesus advises. He points out their public greetings and “seats of honor,” which stands in sharp contrast to their private greed. For the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, honor resides at the top. Power and prestige created a high profile back then as it still does today. After his warning, Jesus turns his disciples’ attention elsewhere: a poor widow.

“She, from her poverty, has contributed all she had.” While the scribes donated large sums to the temple, they did so “from their surplus wealth.” This woman -- in her faith and devotion -- offers “her whole livelihood.” Jesus invited his disciples to see with God’s eyes, to recognize a holy life in people the world overlooks. Here -- in the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized -- God waits hidden.

Today’s Gospel begs a few questions. What do we see? Whom do we value? Are we impressed by the pomp and circumstance of modern day Pharisees? Do we ignore their self-righteousness because it looks impressive, even seems somewhat helpful? The point isn’t to judge the scribes, of course. God can see their hearts as well, and those assessments are firmly his responsibility. The point is to turn our eyes from the typically honored to the rarely respected. Are we disinterested in the poverty of the modern day widows? Do we ignore their faith because we forget to look for it? This Sunday, consider the widows in your own life. Who can you see with God’s eyes?

November 4th -“Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath.” (Luke 13:10) With these opening words, the Gospel for Monday’s daily Mass pressed home the agony and suffering of the previous Saturday. The heinous attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue must serve as a call to all Catholics to remember that our very spiritual roots stem from the Tree of Life—in more layers than I realized when I first sat down to write this letter.

We must remember: Judaism gave us our Savior, Jesus Christ. He grew up in the Holy Family, learning from St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary everything it meant to be a faithful son of Israel.

We must remember: Jesus often taught in the synagogues of his own day, bringing a heavenly message of peace, repentance and healing. Whether our Jewish brothers and sisters share our belief in Jesus as the Messiah or not, we must never forget that synagogues just like that in Squirrel Hill were where he brought his message of peace and righteous worship.

Finally, as Christians, we must remember that Tree of Life to which we turn: the Cross. Make no mistake: innocent blood was spilled last Saturday at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill; make no mistake: innocent blood was shed for us all on the Tree of Life on Calvary.

The rest of Monday’s Gospel provided a message of strength and hope I expect is needed throughout the entire Pittsburgh community. Jesus healed a woman bent and crippled by a demon for 18 years. By his word, she was made new.

Let us, therefore, stand erect and steadfast with our Jewish sisters and brothers. Let none of us be bowed under the weight of evil. Let us humbly and lovingly reassure them that, as Christians, we know the Tree of Life will blossom again.

Father Chris MannerinoParochial Vicar

October 28th - A heartfelt thanks to all of you for the warm welcome Fr. Chris and I received on our first weekend in the parishes. You are so vibrant! We are so delighted to celebrate the love of the Lord with you!

One of the aspects that has taken place behind the scenes over the past several months that you may not be aware of is the collaboration of the music ministries between St. Catherine of Sweden and St. Richard Parishes. Those of you who are from St. Richard Parish know that Diane Rudolph officially retired from her position as Music Director there in May to care for family members. Since then, the Adult Choir has asked her to come back to be their director. Both Diane and I agreed to that, and so she returns to Music Ministry in a limited capacity as just the director of the Adult Choir at St. Richard Parish.

With that said, Mr. James Skalos, presently the Minister of Music at St. Catherine of Sweden, will be the overall new Minister of Music for both St. Catherine of Sweden and St. Richard Parishes effective Monday, October 15, 2018. Jim will oversee the work of putting together a comprehensive program that will encompass the varied styles of liturgical music as well as programs for all ages. Both Jim and Diane have worked in collaboration looking at all aspects of each of the programs, and have been developing a plan that will maintain the strong level of commitment to liturgical music that each parish offers.

In other news, we find it necessary to adjust Eucharistic Adoration Hours at St. Richard Parish. Since January of 2012, 24-hour Eucharistic Adoration has been held at St. Richard Parish from Friday mornings at 8:00 am until Saturday mornings at 8:00 am. The many hours of Adoration have undoubtedly been a blessing to the parish. However, Eucharistic Adoration requires a commitment as the Blessed Sacrament cannot be left alone. Over these years, we have tried to have at least two people committed to prayer for each of these hours. Unfortunately, we have not been successful in this effort. After almost eight years, many of our hours still have only one adorer, including the overnight hours. This raises safety concerns, both safety for the Sacrament and safety for the adorers. To that end, effective Friday November 9, Eucharistic Adoration will begin at 12 Noon and conclude at 9:00 pm with Night Prayer. This gives ample opportunity for everyone to take advantage of praying in front of the Risen Lord, allowing time for those who can only come in the daylight hours and for those who work and can only come in the evening. Since we have Eucharistic Adoration every Friday at St. Richard Parish, it will no longer be held on the First Friday of each month atSt. Catherine of Sweden Parish. We invite those adorers who went before the Blessed Sacrament at St. Catherine of Sweden Parish to sign up on the sheets in the narthex of St. Richard Parish so that we can fill the slots, having at least two adorers at all times. As we move forward, let us continue to grow in devotion to our Eucharistic Lord and pray for His continual blessings on our parish.

A few of the faithful have asked us what the status will be regarding the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick within Mass on First Fridays at St. Catherine of Sweden. That will be suspended beginning in November. One of the reasons is because it takes at least two priests to administer the anointings within the context of Mass. This becomes a challenge because while either Fr. Chris or I celebrate the 10:00 am Mass at St. Catherine of Sweden, the other priest is celebrating the 9:30 am Mass each Friday at St. Barnabas Village, which is within the territory of our parish grouping of St. Catherine of Sweden / St. Richard. We are responsible for the care of souls there as well as in our parishes.

Beginning next year, we will have a special Anointing of the Sick Mass both in the spring and in the fall. Please note that you do not have to wait for these Masses to be anointed. You may request anointing at any time if you or your loved one is ill, or going into the hospital, or for spiritual benefit, by calling the parish office.

Fr. Chris and I are so grateful to be journeying On Mission with you. We look forward to continuing to build the Kingdom together in Hampton/Richland and beyond for many years to come.

In Christ’s Love!Father Bob

October 21st- Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, Words cannot express the gratitude that I, Father Bob Vular, your new administrator, and Father Chris Mannerino, your new parochial vicar, feel after the warm welcome we have received at Saint Richard and Saint Catherine. Though we all find ourselves in the midst of transition, your example of hospitality and eagerness is a testament to your faith in Jesus Christ, and of the fine shepherds who have served you through the years. Father Chris and I can only pray we are able to respond in kind! We all have questions. Indeed, we all have fears. But let us also be full of hopes! For, “we know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Make no mistake, though parts of the path may, for now, be hidden from us, God certainly has a purpose for these strong and vibrant communities of Saint Catherine and Saint Richard. That purpose is to form courageous disciples of Jesus Christ. Moving forward with grace and the Spirit, may we commit to serving one another, our neighbor, and, above all, our God.

We look forward to meeting you! May God bless you!

In Christ’s love,Fr. Bob Vular

October 14th - Christian author C.S. Lewis once wrote that Christianity is not so much about being nice people but in being “new men.” We see this contrast in today’s Gospel. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus first answers in the predictable way. Follow the commandments! “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Perhaps for some of us it’s easy to answer this way. “I’m a good person!” he seems to reply. Does he truly follow all the commandments he professes to follow? Does he - in word and deed - check off all the boxes of the moral law? Perhaps. Whether he’s being honest or fudging the truth, Jesus accepts his answer at face value with compassion. “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.”

But he’s not done yet! Jesus wants to remind us that this attitude alone is not enough. “Go, sell what you have ... then come, follow me.” Jesus’ invitation to the young man is radical. Abandon everything that gives you any sense of security. Give it all up for an unknown future with a wandering preacher.

The Christian life is not easy. “How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!” It’s easier, Jesus says, for a gigantic camel to squeeze itself through a tiny needle’s eye. But the God of the universe creates out of nothing, breaks the bars of hell, and raises the dead to life. Is a needle’s eye really such an obstacle? Jesus’ invitation is always bigger than our own limitations. This week, what do we need to offer up? How is Jesus inviting us to follow him?

October 7th - It was good to have Fr. Andre this past weekend. He helped us keep our problems in perspective. People in his part of the world struggle to have safe drinking water. Our problems do not seem so big compared to theirs.

Yours in Christ,Fr. Vince

September 30th - As we go about our days, we necessarily label, classify, and prioritize. What’s “in” and what’s “out” on our priority list? Because humans are social beings, we tend to do the same thing with people. We can only invite six people to the dinner party. Our young child wants to invite certain friends to her birthday, but we’re keenly aware of who the parents are, and the prospect of spending several hours with them is enough to give us pause.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ disciples face a classification problem. They’ve seen another person driving out demons in the name of Jesus. They recognize him, anon-Apostle, as clearly “out.” And yet “Jesus replied, ‘Do not prevent him ... whoever is not against us is for us.” Jesus recognizes real faith in the would-be exorcist. In our own lives, Jesus invites us to recognize others’ good intentions. They should not be cut off simply because they do not line up with all our personal preferences. What, then, is deserving of such a fate?

“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off ... if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.”

When his listeners blame others, Jesus tends to pivot the conversation to their own lives. In this case, the message is clear. What we really need to cut out is that which keeps us from Jesus. If over-commitment causes us to lose patience with our family, doubt God’s providence, and become consumed with self-reliance, cut something out. If certain friendships lead us time after time into gossip and slander, cut it out. In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us to live intentionally in our discipleship. Are we ready?

September 23 - The Oscars. The Super Bowl. TV talent shows. Your son’s Little League championship. We live in a culture set on competition. The desire to “be the best” goes beyond hobbies and into politics, the corporate world, and parenting comparisons at the park. This desire is as old as the human race, and it surely arose in Jesus’ day. While Biblical society was significantly less open and upwardly mobile than our own, power was attractive. From what we know, many of Jesus’ disciples had come from lowly backgrounds. Now they followed an increasingly popular rabbi who seemed primed to do something big.

Jesus does his best to dissuade their high hopes by prophesying his own defeat. “The Son of Man is to be handed over ... and they will kill him.” Internalizing the message proves challenging for the disciples, and their attention remains fixed on earthly glory. “They ... [discuss] among themselves on the way who was the greatest.” True to style, Jesus flips their pretensions on their heads. “‘If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.’”

We have heard these Biblical principles before. Do we believe them? In our professional lives, do we do whatever we can to get ahead, or are we concerned with the entire team succeeding? In the lives of our children, are we more concerned with victory or with building character? Jesus doesn’t condemn success, but he reframes it. “‘Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me.’” Today’s Gospel is a reality check. In God’s eyes, our success will not be measured by worldly output alone but by how much love and service we offer to others in the process.

September 16th - “Jesus has many who love His Kingdom in Heaven, but few who bear His Cross (Luke 14:27). He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the Breaking of Bread, but few to the drinking of the Cup of His Passion. Many admire His miracles, but few follow Him in the humiliation of His Cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them. Many praise and bless Him, as long as they are receiving any comfort from Him. But if Jesus withdraw Himself, they fall to complaining and utter dejection.

They who love Jesus for His own sake, and not for the sake of comfort for themselves, bless Him in every trial and anguish of heart, no less than in the greatest joy. And were He never willing to bestow comfort on them, they would still always praise Him and give Him thanks.”

Yours in Christ,Fr. Vince

September 9th - “Jesus ... went by way of Sidon ... into the district of the Decapolis.” For most of Jesus’ ministry, he remains in Galilee and areas with a predominantly Jewish population. Today, however, we see Jesus traveling through a heavily pagan area. This makes the utterance of faith in today’s Gospel all the more astounding. “He has done all things well.”

In this story, a deaf man is brought to Jesus. This man is not without community! Despite communication difficulties due to a speech impediment, his people bring him before Jesus. Jesus lays hands upon the man and commands his broken body to change. “‘Be opened!’ Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.” The community is stunned. They can’t stop telling the story. The more Jesus asks them to settle down, the more they proclaim! The Jewish people expected a Messiah but a Messiah with very particular qualifications. The Greeks and pagans anticipated no such savior. There were no expectations to meet. They had a special capacity to be completely, utterly surprised.

As Catholics, it can be easy to become accustomed to the songs and the prayers, to the routine of religious education drop-offs and Sunday Mass attendance. By now, we may have very particular expectations. When was the last time you allowed yourself to be surprised by God? Sometimes we are all like the deaf man in today’s Gospel. God wants to speak to us, but we can’t hear clearly. In your prayer this week, go before God honestly. Give yourself permission to drop your expectations and assumptions. Ask Him to renew your faith to show you how, in your life, “He has done all things well.”

September 2nd - The range of emotions that most of us have felt in the past two weeks over what has been covered by the media about our Church is vast: Anger, Shame, Sorrow, Disgust and Dismay to name a few. What can the average person do to make any difference? As someone who has read extensively on the subject, I can say that the answers are not so simple, but the response each individual person can make is very powerful.

Prayer and Fasting for reparation. This can be done at home, at work and of course in church.

Offering prayers for the victims and reparation for the damage done them. The multitude of prayer is not so much important as the sincerity behind them.

We can offer our presence at Mass, pray a favorite devotion or novena (Stations of the Cross are not just for Lent).

Spend time at Adoration or make a visit to church instead of a recreational activity.

Whatever we do we should do it sincerely and make part of our everyday lives. As St. Paul said in Ephesians chapter six, "With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones."

A Prayer of ReparationMost Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly and I offer You the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended, and by the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners. Amen.

Yours in Christ,Fr. Vince

August 26th - Excerpts from my Homily of 8-19-18If someone asks you, “Why do you stay in the Catholic Church?” after the previous week, you might look at what the Apostles experienced in the life, betrayal, trial and passion, death and resurrection of Christ, to find an answer.

The Apostles saw Jesus do miracles that we could only ever hope to see: curing the sick, raising people from the dead, walking on water, calming the storm, healing lepers and feeding the multitude (let’s not forget turning water into wine). The Scriptures tell us that Jesus did, “many other things … but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.”

Then they saw him betrayed by a kiss from Judas, one their own, sold out for 30 pieces of silver and given a sham trial by the religious leaders of the day. The religious leaders turned him over to the Romans who saw “no case against him”, but yielded to the mob who wanted him crucified. Amongst themselves, Peter denied he knew him three times. Most ran away, one so fast he left his tunic behind. The only ones who stood by his cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary of Magdala and John.

After his death the Apostles were in hiding. What did Jesus do? He appeared to them and showed them his wounds. He sent the Holy Spirit upon them like fire. The Fire of the Holy Spirit is purifying. They went forth and took the Gospel to the world. All of them (except for the Apostle John) gave their lives in witness to the Lord.

I received a bit of inspiration from Deacon Ming this past week. I had asked him to preach the Feast of the Assumption since it was his last day here before he went back to school. In light of the Grand Jury Report, I offered to preach. He said no and that he would not ignore this issue. In his Homily he essentially said you could leave or stay and build anew. He was staying and going back to school to finish his studies for the Priesthood.

We should ask the Lord once again to send the Holy Spirit upon us and purify us, renew us and send us forth once again to be faithful witnesses.

Yours in Christ,Fr. Vince

August 19th - Congratulations once again to John and Norenne Krzan on their 60th Wedding Anniversary. May you have many happy years ahead!

We wish Deacon Mingwei Li a safe journey back to school and success this semester in Seminary. Deacon Ming will be back here at the parish around the Christmas season.

As I mentioned in last week’s homily, we cannot allow ourselves to think that we become automatically holy by receiving communion. We must be properly disposed and strive to live a life of Communion with the Lord every day. Many moons ago during a Vacation Bible school I was teaching as a seminarian, I taught what I termed the “Four Spiritual Food Groups” (I doubt it was an original idea) to help the young people learn about the faith. We ingest many things that are not good for our souls via the popular culture that we live in today. We all should be striving to grow by looking at what the “Deposit of Faith” has for us.

· Scriptures· Prayer· Saints· Sacraments

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is great place to start to learn about these.

All of us should be life long students of the Scriptures. We should also take up the challenge of reading the Bible from cover to cover at least once in our life. We have been blessed in the Church recently with many great aids and programs to study the Bible and should take advantage of them.

“Prayer is, for me, an outburst from the heart; it is a simple glance darted upwards to Heaven; it is a cry of gratitude and of love in the midst of trial as in the midst of joy! In a word, it is something exalted, supernatural, which dilates the soul and unites it to God. Sometimes when I find myself, spiritually, in dryness so great that I cannot produce a single good thought, I recite very slowly a Pater or an Ave Maria; these prayers alone console me, they suffice, they nourish my soul.” ~ St. Therese -Story of A Soul, Chapter X

The above quote from St. Therese of Lisiuex shows us the nature of prayer. It also shows us the need to study the Saints. If we want to be good at anything, we need to look at the great people who have gone before us. Artists study great artists. Athletes find the best coaches. If we want to be great followers of Christ, we must do the same ... study His Saints.

The Sacraments are given to us by Christ via the Church to give us grace. Each once gives us a special grace to help us live a deeper life of faith. We should strive to prepare ourselves to be greater prepared to receive the two we can receive most frequently, Penance and the Eucharist. In the upcoming weeks I will talk about them.

Yours in Christ,Fr. Vince

August 12th - Hello St. Richard Parish! I will be here in replacement ministry until your new administrator arrives in October. Some have termed what I will be doing as “babysitting a parish”. This is somewhat true; as a good babysitter I have all the important phone numbers to call if there are any problems or misbehaving. The staff is also working on converting the comfort room to be a “time out” room for all ages. (just kidding).

I was in a hospital recently (I am expected to live at least another 30 years) and had the opportunity to watch a documentary about the struggles of our brothers and sisters around the Middle East as I lay in bed. Compared to them, we have little to complain about in the upcoming mergers and groupings in October. Many of them have been cruelly persecuted for their faith (many martyred) and have lost their churches to bombings and vandalism.

All change can be difficult, but if we keep a perspective on the challenges the Mystical Body of Christ has faced over the ages, it becomes less daunting. Christ has promised to be with us until the end of the ages and his promises are true. Whatever comes we can be certain that we are never alone, the Lord is with us!

Yours in Christ,Fr. Vince

August 5th - Oremus pro invicem! I’ve been concluding this column with this simple Latin phrase for the overwhelming majority of my tenure at Saint Richard. It was a fairly common phrase around the seminary, but out here in the real world, it’s not used as often as it should be. So, as a refresher: it’s translated as, “Let us pray for one another!” As I finish my time here at the parish, it seems to be a phrase worth reflecting on.

In his encyclical letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, Saint John Paul II wrote, “Is it not one of the ‘signs of the times’ that in today’s world, despite widespread secularization, there is a widespread demand for spirituality, a demand which expresses itself in large part as a renewed need for prayer? Other religions, which are now widely present in ancient Christian lands, offer their own responses to this need, and sometimes they do so in appealing ways. But we who have received the grace of believing in Christ, the revealer of the Father and the Savior of the world, have a duty to show to what depths the relationship with Christ can lead.” What can be deeper than praying for one another? It is at once an act of humility, of selflessness, and of love. And, of course, it is certainly Christ-like.

So let us pray for another. Let us pray that we all grow in holiness. Let us pray that we always have the courage to say yes to God’s call. Let us pray that we always have hearts open and ready to forgive those who have wronged us. Let us pray that we have eyes open to see the needs of our brothers and sisters, and hands that are ready to serve them. Let us pray that we all have the wisdom and understanding to navigate the transitions that the On Mission initiative will bring to our parish and our diocese. Let us pray that we all do the work of building up God’s Kingdom here on earth. And let us pray that we all get to heaven.

And in your charity, please pray for me.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

For those wanting to keep in touch, my new mailing address will be: 119 W. Chestnut St., Washington, PA 15301 My email remains mconway@diopitt.org And my blog, which I sometimes manage to post my homilies to, is at http://fathermikeconway.com

July 29 - First, I want to share three important pieces of news, in an attempt to over-communicate things. I’ll tackle these chronologically. First, Bishop Zubik will be presiding and preaching at the 5:00 pmMass on Saturday, August 11. Friends of the Bishop are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary that day, and the Bishop wants to be here to celebrate with them. Please give him a warm welcome (and more importantly, pray for John and Noreen). Second, as of the time of this writing, the plan is to release the new Mass schedules the weekend of August 18/19. I’m not exactly sure how that’s going to work, but the Diocese has told us that they’re going to try to over-communicate the message. Remember that the new Mass schedule does not go into effect until Monday, October 15, with the rest of the On Mission changes – so you’ll have two months to figure out a strategy should “your” Mass be changed. Finally, we have a date for Confirmation – Saturday, October 6, at 10:00 am. This is relatively soon, so I encourage the parents of our Confirmation candidates to be particularly mindful of any communications coming from the Faith Formation Office. I have no room to talk on this one, but: don’t procrastinate! If they need something in terms or paperwork, get it done. Bishop Zubik will be our celebrant this year.

I’ve inadvertently used more of my column space than I intended. So to conclude, I just want to repeat what we heard Saint Paul say in today’s second reading. Keeping this exhortation in mind will be so important in the coming weeks as we deal with a lot of transition not just in our parish, but in our diocese as a whole. Perhaps the last line is the most critical: God is indeed over all, through all, and in all. It may not always go the way we want it to, but it will go the way it is supposed to; and that will give glory to God.

“Brothers and sisters: I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

July 22 - “Now what?” It’s a difficult thing to hear, isn’t it? The train comes late, a child unexpectedly cries, and the latest public policy debate flares up in the news. Life throws us curveballs, and we have no choice but to adapt. Jesus and the Apostles find themselves in that exact situation in today’s Gospel.

The Apostles have returned from their two-by-two missionary journey. As Jesus hears all of their stories, he knows they need time to recover and refresh. “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” Their wilderness retreat is short-lived, however, as eager crowds discover their location. Jesus is well aware of the needs of his disciples. Still, as he looks out at the crowd, “His heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.” The rest break is over. “He began to teach them many things.”

For those of us who have experienced a taste of much-needed relaxation only to have it taken away abruptly, perhaps we surmise what the Apostles might have been feeling in that moment. But Jesus isn’t being inconsiderate of the Apostles needs. He offers them -- and us -- a lived lesson. St. John Paul II wrote, “The whole of Christ’s life was a continual teaching: his silences, his miracles, his gestures, his prayer, his love for people, his special affection for the little and the poor, his acceptance of the total sacrifice on the Cross for the redemption of the world” (On Catechesis in Our Time, 9). In Jesus’ choice to teach, we see all of these things: sacrificial love, concern for the marginalized, and priority of people’s needs over personal preference. These aren’t abstract ideals. They’re lived realities as we strive to live and love like Jesus. When a new obstacle confronts you in your life, how do you respond?

July 15- Bringing in a guest speaker today…Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. This is from his Angelus address ofJuly 15, 2012. Enjoy!

“Today, 15 July, in the liturgical calendar is the Memorial of St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan, Doctor of the Church and the successor of St. Francis of Assisi at the helm of the Order of Friars Minor. It was he whowrote the first official biography of the “Poverello,” and, at the end of his life, he was also Bishop of the Diocese of Albano.

Bonaventure wrote in one of his letters: “I confess before God that the reason which made me most love the life of Blessed Francis is that it resembles the birth and development of the Church.” These words refer us directly to this Sunday’s Gospel which presents the first occasion on which Jesus sent the Twelve Apostles out on mission. Jesus “called to him the Twelve,” St. Mark recounts, “and began to send them out two by two ... He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics” (Mk 6:7-9). After his conversion Francis of Assisi practiced this Gospel to the letter, becoming a very faithful witness of Jesus; and, uniquely bound to the mystery of the Cross, was transformed into “another Christ”, exactly as St. Bonaventure describes him.

Jesus Christ is the inspiring centre of St. Bonaventure’s entire life and likewise of his theology. We rediscover this centrality of Christ in the Second Reading of today’s Mass (Eph 1:3-14), the famous hymn of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians that begins: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”. The Apostle thus shows in the four passages, that all begin with the same words: “in him”, with reference to Jesus, how this plan of blessing was brought about. “In him”, the Father chose us before the creation of the world; “in him” we have redemption through his blood; “in him” we became his heirs, predestined to live “for the praise of his glory”; “in him” all those who believe in the Gospel receive the seal of the Holy Spirit. This Pauline hymn contains the vision of history which St. Bonaventure helped to spread in the Church: the whole of history is centered on Christ, who also guarantees in every era new things and renewal. In Jesus, God said and gave all things, but since he is an inexhaustible treasure, the Holy Spirit never ceases to reveal and to actualize his mystery. So it is that the work of Christ and of the Church never regresses but always progresses.

Dear friends, let us invoke Mary Most Holy whom we shall be celebrating tomorrow as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, so that she may help us, like St. Francis and St. Bonaventure, to respond generously to the Lord’s call to proclaim his Gospel of salvation with our words and, first and foremost, with our lives.”

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

July 8 - After last weekend’s surprise announcement, I probably ought to use this space just to make sure we’re all on the same page. So here’s what’s going on:

· My new assignment begins on August 6, and yes, I was the one who requested that it start earlier than October 15. Waiting until October would have been a real disservice to the students at those colleges I am being called to minister to, and if I have to leave St. Richard anyway, we might as well do it right. I’m grateful to the Bishop for making this change.

· Fr. Vince Kolo will be coming to St. Richard on August 6 to serve in replacement ministry until the rest of the On Mission! changes happen in October. Father is currently serving in replacement ministry in the New Castle area parishes, while their pastor, Fr. Frank Almade, recovers from some serious health problems. Thankfully, Father Almade is recovering nicely, and so Father Kolo will be able to be with us for this short time. Father already is somewhat familiar with the area, having also served as the chaplain at Passavant Hospital.

· Deacon Ming’s assignment is unchanged. He officially starts tomorrow, July 9, and is with us until he determines he needs to get back to school. During his breaks at Christmas and Easter, as well as the break between the end of the school year and his priestly ordination, he will also be assigned here.

· The new Mass schedules are still pending. Every new clergy team submitted their proposal on June 11. The regional vicars are now reviewing those proposals from a more global perspective and making changes as necessary. For example, if every parish along the Route 51 corridor wanted a9:00 am Mass, but no one wanted a noon Mass, that’s something the vicars would catch and fix. (Yes, I’m deliberately using the South Hills for an example.) The finished schedules should be released in late July or early August, and will be effective October 15.

Keep all of this in prayer. It looks like there’s a lot of moving parts here, but it’s bigger than that. It’s not parts; it’s people. Your priests and the diocesan staff – not to mention the Hardest Working Parish Staff in the Diocese – are doing the best they can to make this transition as easy as possible. It’s still going to have some rough patches. Trust in God and have faith that, as the Psalmist says, He might “grant success to the work of our hands.”

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

July 1st - Today’s Gospel offers a rare framework -- a story in a story. Most of the healing miracles are standalone encounters. One person approaches Jesus, demonstrates faith, and is healed. The evangelist tells the next story. This Gospel, however, is different. Jesus is on his way to heal one person, a young girl of twelve, and is interrupted on his journey by “a woman afflicted with hemorrhages.” She bravely approaches Jesus in a crowd, despite being ritually unclean from her bleeding, and stretches out to touch his cloak. She is healed! Jesus meets her eye, confirms her faith, and continues on to resurrect the young girl.

Reading this passage, it might be easier to identify with one story -- the long-suffering woman or the young, innocent girl -- and to move past the other. But here they sit side by side. The girl is twelve. The woman has been suffering for twelve years. For the Gospel writers, number parallels have deep symbolic meaning.

Between the woman and the young girl, we are not one or the other. We are both. None of us had a perfect childhood, perfect families, or a perfect peer group. As we endure pain, disappointment, or unmet expectations, it can feel like a part of our childhood hopes have died. Our coping mechanisms, social adaptations, and hidden secrets can make us the “walking wounded” in some respects. Jesus wants to do more than simply staunch the bleeding. His healing hand makes dead things come alive. He awakens the dreams that are asleep. This process requires prayer, conversations with trusted community and spiritual mentors, and critical looks at difficult areas of our life. However, we can believe the words of our Lord. If we approach Jesus in faith, believing that he wants to heal and save, we, too, will hear his calming words spoken over the hurts of our life. “I say to you, arise!” “Go in peace."

June 24th - I don’t want to alarm anyone, but Christmas is only six months away. That should still allow for plenty of time to buy a nice gift forthat special pastor in your life, but you can’t put it off. It’s a process, after all. Now that the rummage sale has come and gone, opportunities to pick something really nice might be few and far between. (As a side note, we’ll have a final report from the rummage sale shortly. There are still a few outstanding bills and such, but it looks like we did very well once again.)

In all seriousness, Christmas is only six months away, which is precisely why the Church celebrates the birth of John the Baptist on June 24. John’s mission was nothing less than to herald the coming of the Messiah. It was a mission so important that he started working on it before he was born – leaping in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth, when Mary’s greeting sounded in her ears (cf. Lk. 1:44). It was a mission he continued in his adulthood, pointing out the Lamb of God and encouraging his own followers to follow Him (cf. Jn. 1:29), as well as preaching a baptism of repentance for sins. It was a mission he was ultimately willing to give his life for, because he knew the cost would be worth it (cf. Mt. 3:11).

Even nature recognizes the importance of John’s mission. Thursday was the summer solstice; from that day on, the days get progressively shorter – which is to say, they get less sunlight. As John himself said, “I must decrease, He must increase” (Jn. 3:30). John’s mission is to remind the world that no matter how dark things get, there is One coming after him that can change all that. Unsurprisingly, then, that just a few days after the winter solstice – the darkest day of the year – we celebrate Christmas, when the true Light enters the world.

During the uncertainty of the On Mission for the Church Alive! process, we need to ask ourselves if we’re onboard with the mission of Saint John the Baptist. Do our hearts leap for joy when we encounter Him in the many different ways we are privileged to meet Him? Do we point others towards Him, so that they too might have a personal relationship with Him? Do we seek out forgiveness, so that our relationship with Him might be more fruitful? How much are we willing to give to be witnesses to Christ?

It’s not often that a Sunday gets replaced, as it were, by a feast day. But this is one of those cases. The Church definitely wants us – needs us – to pray with and to Saint John the Baptist today, that we might become more authentic disciples.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

June 17th - “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God.” What is a kingdom? Is it the brick and mortar that build up the castle? Is it the expanse of land a king can reasonably defend? Our notions of kingdoms may be romanticized in the modern era, but for the Israelites, a kingdom held deep historical meaning. Thousands of years before the birth of Christ, the Israelites had asked God for a king. After the reigns of David and Solomon, the united kingdom dissolved into factions, and the land was conquered by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and, finally, Romans. For the Israelites, a kingdom was something to build, both structurally and civilly. While this had ended in ruin for their ancestors, many of Jesus’ contemporaries longed for the restoration of an earthly kingdom.Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel are a radical departure from this perspective. He compares the Kingdom of God to a field, but it appears that the farmer has little to do with its progress. “The seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord, the land yields fruit.” Jesus introduces his followers to a new sort of kingdom, a kingdom where God provides the growth.There is work to be done, of course. “When the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” But for the Kingdom of God to flourish, there are certain things that are outside of our control. We sow seeds of kindness, justice, and integrity and then we must be patient. As shoots of faith appear, we nurture the growth with encouragement. As Christians, our task is not to build the Kingdom of God under our power alone, but to trust in the life-giving movement of God.

June 10th - I have nothing against the man, but I very much doubt that the late John Denver is going to show up on anyone’s list of the greatest theologians of all time. He was one heck of a good songwriter, though,and he does make at least one bold theological claim that I am aware of: that the State of West Virginia is, in fact, almost heaven.

Pitt fans might disagree, of course, but those of us who have spent significant time in the Mountain State know there’s something special about it. Natural beauty abounds, and generally speaking, most West Virginians are hard-working and friendly. Sounds heavenly enough, right? But let’s not be naïve: there are some parts of the state that just aren’t so beautiful. For a variety of reasons, there are places where poverty abounds, and there seems to be no way out. While it’s true there are no easy answers, perhaps the simplest one is this: we need to make West Virginia more like heaven.

It’s not as difficult as it sounds. Those who dwell in heaven experience the perfect knowledge and love of God. To make West Virginia – or Pennsylvania, or Maryland, or even Ohio – more like heaven, we have to do two things. The first, and most obvious, is to pray, asking God to enlighten the hearts of the people so that they might come to knowledge of Him. The second is to love them as God does.

One look at the crucifix shows what God’s love looks like. It’s certainly not abstract, and it’s certainly sacrificial. This Sunday, just over 150 people from our Appalachia Mission group will descend on the town of Mullens to be of service to our brothers and sisters in need. The plan is to work hard to repair some homes to give people a shot at a safer, healthier life; but mainly to pray with and for them to remind them that they are loved by God.

Pray for us – and them – this week. Pray for our safety in travel, our success at work, but most of all, for our sanctification.

Almost heaven? Not yet. But we’re working on it.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

June 3rd - As we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, let us reflect on the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas written in the 13th century, entitled “O Precious and Wonderful Banquet.”

“Since it was the will of God’s only-begotten Son that men should share in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make men gods. Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us forever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.

O precious and wonderful banquet that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.

It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfillment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation.”

May 27th - This week’s column isn’t necessarily On Mission for the Church Alive! related, but you could say it’s inspired by On Mission. What Imean by that is, at the time of this writing, I don’t have any new information to share with you, but I do have a couple things for you to think and pray about. Maybe these apply to you; maybe they don’t. All I ask is that you give them your consideration anyway.

We know that when implementation happens in October, things are going to change. The most immediate impact will be to the Mass schedule. What the finished product will look like has yet to be determined, but we know it will be different, and that’s going to force some people to change their Sunday routine. This will be true throughout the Diocese, not just here. The second biggest change, I think, will be the change in clergy staffing the parishes. While it really shouldn’t matter who the celebrant is, or who the homilist is, I’m not naïve enough to think that is the case. Those changes, too, could make an impact on people’s Sunday routines.

My point is this: you’re very likely going to encounter new people at your Mass come October. Already, there are people doing some church-shopping in advance of what’s to come. This, then, is an excellent time for us to work on our hospitality. Please don’t think I’m accusing anyone of being inhospitable – that’s definitely not the case. I’ve always found this parish to be very open and inviting, as have many, many others. We can’t allow ourselves to get complacent, and we can always improve. Remember, going to Mass on Sunday is the most important thing you or anyone else is going to do that week. So don’t let people feel like outsiders doing it. When you get to church, move to the center of the pew so late-comers don’t have to climb over you. If you can’t do that, step out of the pew and let them enter. (The church seats roughly 750 people; I assure you, there’s room.) Smile. Greet people. Smile. Turn off your cell phones so they don’t disturb other people’s prayer. Smile. Be patient in the parking lot. Smile. Consider becoming an usher or lector or Eucharistic minister so you can interact with more people. Smile.

On Mission is going to be hard for a lot of people. As I’ve written before, I don’t think it will be that hard here, because this parish is strong, dynamic, and faith-filled. Those are all gifts from God. So let’s use those gifts to be models and examples of hospitality, and to help the bishop fulfill the vision of On Mission for the Church Alive!

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

May 20th - I’m going to indulge my inner Church nerd this week and write about a part of the liturgy today. That part is, of course, thesequence that preceded the singing of the Alleluia. I’ve written about sequences before, both in this column and in my weekly email, but the sequence for Pentecost – the Veni, Sancte Spiritus – is too good not to write about. In fact, in medieval times, this sequence was known as the “Golden Sequence” because of it’s beauty.

The authorship of the hymn is disputed. Many ascribe it to Pope Innocent III (d. 1216), but other scholars say it was composed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Stephen Langton (d. 1228). Perhaps most likely is that it was ghostwritten for one of these two. Whomever wrote it was quite skilled in the Latin language. In each of the six-line stanzas, lines 1 and2, 3 and 6, and 4 and 5 rhyme. Every third line ends in -ium. The repeated use of the word veni (come) in the opening stanza aptly expresses the deep desire of the soul for the coming of the Consoler. Similarly, the repeated use of the verb da (to give or to grant) in the final stanza expresses the deep confidence the author has in the Holy Spirit. Arguably, the most noticeable thing about this hymn is its brevity – that the author can do so much in 30 short lines.

With enough practice (and a little talent), anyone can write beautiful Latin poetry. What sets the Veni, Sancte Spiritus apart and gives it such longevity is the sanctity standing behind the work. In his 1902 work, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Dogmatically, Liturgically, and Ascetically Explained, Fr. Nicholas Gihr writes, “The sequence for [Pentecost] can have come but from a heart wholly inflamed with the fire of the Holy Ghost. It is an incomparable hymn, breathing the sweetness of Paradise, and regaling us with heaven’s sweetest fragrance.”

Think what we could accomplish if our hearts were inflamed with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Think of the art we could create that would give glory to God. Think of the things we could write that would edify others. Think of the things we could say that would boldly proclaim the Gospel. Think of the things we could do to build up the Kingdom of God. Spend time this Pentecost asking the Holy Spirit to set you on fire and drive out your fear, as He did for the Apostles on the first Pentecost.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love!

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

May13th - Mother’s Day isn’t really a thing in Rome. They are aware of it – American culture is pervasive, after all – but they aren’t ready to adopt it. Not because they don’t love their mothers – seriously, look at the respect an Italian grandmother gets form her clan – but because to them, the day seems superfluous. Isn’t every day a day in which you should give particular honor and respect to the mothers in your life? (I again refer you to an Italian grandmother.) This probably says more about the Italian notion of family life than it does the American ideal.

That being said, in the seminary on Mother’s Day, the staff would post signs reminding us that it was, in fact, Mother’s Day…and that Rome was 6 hours ahead of the east coast, 5 ahead of central, and so on; and that to avoid overloading the network, we should plan our Skype calls accordingly. Just because we were in Rome did not mean we were exempt from this American holiday.

I don’t need to remind you that today is Mother’s Day. But do I need to remind you that this entire month belongs to your Blessed Mother? The ancients often had recourse to various goddesses during the month of May, praying for a fruitful growing season. As paganism came to an end in Europe, the need for prayers for a good growing season and an end of winter remained. At the same time, as Christianity became more entrenched in the culture, devotion to Mary spread. A common practice was to devote 30 days of prayer to her. Eventually, the two practices merged – who better than Mary, after all, to intercede on behalf of those looking for a fruitful harvest? All she did was give life to the Savior of mankind. In many places, these practices became very formalized – May Crowning; Marian processions; public recitation of the Rosary, and so on.

In his 1965 encyclical Mense Maio, the prophetic Pope Paul VI included this plea for Mary’s help: “May she who experienced the cares and hardships of earthly life, the weariness of daily toil, the hardships and trials of poverty, and the sorrows of Calvary, come to aid the needs of the Church and the human race. May she graciously lend an ear to the devout pleas of those all over the world who beg her for peace. May she enlighten the minds of those who rule nations. And finally, may she prevail on God, who rules the winds and storms, to calm the tempests in men's warring hearts and grant us peace in our day. What we seek is true peace grounded on the sturdy foundations of justice and love—on a justice which recognizes the legitimate rights of the weak as well as those of the strong; on a love which keeps men from falling into error through excessive concern for their own interests. Thus each person's rights may be safeguarded without the rights of others being forgotten or violated.”

This May, find a way to make Pope Paul’s prayer yours. And find a way to honor the Blessed Mother each day. She’s not just our Mother – she’s your Mother. And she deserves it.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

May 6th - Now that the dust is mostly settled from last weekend’s announcements, I want to try to unpack them a little bit. First, just in case there are any rumors out there to the contrary: I did not ask to leave Saint Richard. All the priests and deacons were asked to rank their top three preferences, and this place was definitely my number one choice. However – and this says a lot about this parish – the grouping of Saint Richard and Saint Catherine was the most requested grouping in the entire diocese by a wide margin. Returning to my previous assignment was my second choice; and I had picked a random parish in the South Hills as my third (just to be closer to my parents). I had also expressed an interest in doing educational ministry – I didn’t think that would get me three colleges, but I like a good challenge. But enough about me.

Some folks noticed a line in the Bishop’s letter that caused some unrest: “At this time, no buildings will close.” They read that to indicate that in the future, one of the two church buildings in this grouping might close. Frankly, that’s pessimistic and unreasonable. Given the population of the two parishes, the demographics of the area, the average weekly Mass attendance, and the seating capacities of both buildings, I can’t see a situation where buildings close. Now, there are groupings within the diocese that will be closing buildings, and in some cases, soon. I think the Bishop was speaking more to those parishes than to others.

Some have asked what we mean by “interim” Mass schedules. Father Steve and I will be meeting with Father Bob and Father Chris to try to figure that out. Remember, this group can only have six Sunday Masses, including any Saturday vigils. We’ve been ignoring canon law for too long in this matter. The four of us are going to look at what makes the most sense for everyone and try to schedule accordingly. We like to think we’re smart guys, and we have a lot of empirical data and personal observations to work with, but we are human and do make mistakes. So the schedules will be interim – if they don’t work, they’ll be changed.

Finally, someone asked me, “Why does the bishop hate our parish?” The question was obviously in jest, but nevertheless, let me make it clear: he absolutely does not. He thinks very highly of this parish and how vibrant and dynamic it is. Yes, he’s asking us to face another transition after just having to go through one last summer, but everyone’s facing transition at this point. Furthermore, I think it says something about the confidence he has in the Saint Richard family and the resiliency you’ve shown him that he would ask us to do it again.

I think those were the three biggest things I’ve heard so far, so I hope that helped answer some questions and put you at ease. There’ll be plenty more updates, I’m sure.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

April 29th - There’s much going on this weekend – not the least of which are all the On Mission announcements. I’ll try to delve into those in next week’s column. More important to the life of the Church is the fact that we celebrate – this weekend and next – our second graders receiving Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time. Worthy reception of the Eucharist is absolutely fundamental to our incorporation into the Body of Christ, so I leave you with this reflection on today’s Gospel from Pope Francis:

“Jesus is the vine, and through Him — like the sap in the tree — the very love of God, the Holy Spirit is passed to the branches. Look: we are the branches, and through this parable, Jesus wants us to understand the importance of remaining united to him. The branches are not self-sufficient, but depend totally on the vine, in which the source of their life is found. So it is with us Christians. Grafted by Baptism in Christ, we have freely received the gift of new life from Him; and thanks to the Church we are able to remain in vital communion with Christ. We must remain faithful to Baptism, and grow in intimacy with the Lord through prayer, listening and docility to His Word — read the Gospel —, participation in the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation.

When one is intimately united to Jesus, he enjoys the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are — as St. Paul tells us — ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control’ (Gal 5:22). These are the gifts that we receive if we remain united in Jesus; and therefore a person who is so united in Him does so much good for neighbour and society, is a Christian person. In fact, one is recognized as a true Christian by this attitude, as a tree is recognized by its fruit. The fruits of this profound union with Christ are wonderful: our whole person is transformed by the grace of the Spirit: soul, understanding, will, affections, and even body, because we are united body and soul. We receive a new way of being, the life of Christ becomes our own: we are able to think like Him, to act like Him, to see the world and the things in it with the eyes of Jesus. And so we are able to love our brothers, beginning with the poorest and those who suffer the most, as He did and love them with His heart, and so bear fruits of goodness, of charity, and of peace in the world.

Each one of us is a branch of the one vine; and all of us together are called to bear the fruits of this common membership in Christ and in the Church. Let us entrust ourselves to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, so that we might be able to be living branches in the Church and witness to our faith in a consistent manner — consistency of one’s own life and thought, of life and faith — knowing that all of us, according to our particular vocations, participate in the one saving mission of Christ.”

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

April 22nd - This week is going to be a very busy, and may I add stressful, time concerning On Mission for the Church Alive! So, even before I outline what will be happening, let me begin with a very sincere and importantrequest. Please pray every day of this week for our diocese, Bishop Zubik and all the clergy (Deacons and Priests).

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the Bishop will be holding meetings with clergy teams for each of the new groupings. This will be the first time the clergy teams are together and have the opportunity to speak to one another and acknowledge their new assignments.

On Thursday there will be the Clergy Convocation focused entirely on On Mission announcements. On that day, following a period of prayer and Eucharistic Adoration, the clergy will see the final groupings along with the respected clergy assignments. It is at that time that the clergy will learn the big picture of who is assigned where throughout the diocese (up until that point all the clergy will know is where, and with whom, they are assigned). The information shared at the convocation will not be made public until Saturday.

At the convocation the clergy will receive a letter to be read at all weekend Masses. This letter will announce the grouping and assigned clergy―which will take effect on October 15, 2018. If it is relevant, the announcement will also be made as to where currently assigned clergy will be newly assigned. At the convocation, an informational sheet specific to each clergy’s current grouping will also be distributed and will be placed in the bulletin the weekend ofMay 5/6 and be mailed to each parishioner.

Friday will be a day of prayer and processing for the clergy. Remember to pray for us!

On Saturday Bishop Zubik will hold a press conference at 4:00 pm to share information with the media about the On Mission assignments. After this press conference all information concerning On Mission will be available to the public.

That evening I will share with all of you (who attend the 5:00 pm Mass) the letter I receive at the convocation. I will read this letter at the end of Mass just prior to the final dismissal.

On Sunday I will follow the same procedure as I will use for the Saturday night Mass. So, immediately prior to the final dismissal I will read the letter notifying us of the grouping and pertinent clergy assignments.

I do ask this favor of you. Please do not ask me questions about the grouping or my assignment prior to the conclusion of the Saturday 5:00 pm Mass. I wish to honor the Bishop’s request for this information to remain confidential and I would like to be as focused as possible for the celebration of that Mass (which will be hard enough without having already begun the On Mission assignment discussions).

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

April 15th, 2018 - I haven’t written much about On Mission for the Church Alive recently, but given that major announcements are going to be made at the end of this month, I figure I probably ought to. Hopefully this will provide some clarity as to what’s coming.

On Thursday, April 26, all the clergy of the diocese will meet at the seminary for the annual spring clergy convocation. Normally, these things serve as a chance for some continuing education and spiritual enrichment (and dinner!); this time will be more about praying together and being commissioned for On Mission. At the convocation, the new parish groupings will be announced and the clergy will receive their new assignments.

That weekend, April 28 and 29, each priest will read a letter from the bishop to his parish, informing the parish of its new grouping and which clergy will staff that grouping. This letter will also be mailed to every household in the parish, and included in the following week’s bulletin. And, knowing me, will be emailed to you as well. In some cases, there will be an entirely new clergy team coming in; in other cases, there will be only a few changes; and, I suppose, there are some cases where staffing will remain the same. No staffing changes will go into effect at the end of April. All changes will be effective in October.

Why the long delay? Well, the hope is to make the transition as seamless as possible. The last time the diocese did a major reorganization like this, in the early 1990s, well over two-thirds of all the priests were moved – and this was at a time where there were almost 600 guys in active ministry. It was chaos. We’ve learned from that, we hope, and we’re doing it this way because this allows for the outgoing and incoming clergy to meet multiple times, and for incoming clergy to meet with the parish staff multiple times. A critical part of these meetings will be the development of new Mass schedules that take into consideration the needs of the parishes, seating capacity, number of priests, and other factors. These schedules will be announced during the summer. Our Mass schedule will, in all likelihood, change as a result of this process. How much so is yet to be determined.

Monday, October 15, is implementation day. New assignments and new Mass schedules begin that day. No parishes will close or merge in April, or even in October. Starting in October, we begin the process to eventually merge parishes, and in some cases (not ours), we begin the process to eventually close buildings.

So we’re still two weeks away from any real news. Our task until then is to continue praying that our hearts are open to the direction the Holy Spirit is taking us as a diocese and as a parish. Our task after the announcements come out is to continue to make that same prayer, so that we can be successful in our mission of building up the Kingdom.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mik

Second Sunday of Easter,Divine Mercy Sunday

Should we be a little easier on Thomas? The last few days have been a whirlwind. On Thursday, a Passover celebration went horribly awry as Jesus was betrayed and taken into custody for unstated crimes. Less than 24 hours later, the simple arrest has turned into a death sentence to be carried out that very afternoon. Most of the disciples fled, including Thomas. He would have heard of the events of Good Friday secondhand, in shock over the death of his Lord and Master. Then Sunday morning arrives with joy from a few disciples - Jesus is risen! But there is no persistent sight of him, only Mary Magdalene’s quick moment in the garden and an empty tomb. Another day passes. The Apostles are gathered that Monday night, but Thomas is absent. He returns to a jubilant report of the risen Lord. Again, Thomas has seen nothing.

The experience must have been surreal. Did Jesus really appear raised from the dead? Did he really suffer and die? Has all of this been some strange hoax? Desperate for an answer, Thomas insists, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

After his resurrection, Jesus' body -- mangled and bloody from the crucifixion -- is restored. Did it need the scars? A perfected body would have taught us one lesson: everything is renewed as it once was, the past erased. Jesus chooses another lesson, however. He retains his scars that we might know him. In the whirlwind of our lives, we make our own mistakes, our own betrayals and compromises. In the resurrected Jesus, we see a God who does not forget his own sorrow. We are invited to meet him -- wound for wound -- and place our hand on his own nail-scarred palm, the eternal sign of his everlasting mercy.

April 1st, Easter Sunday - Happy Easter! There are so many different things worth reflecting on today, it’s almost unfair … so I want to focus on something that is probably the most easily missed. It’s the opening line from the first reading of Easter morning: Peter proceeded to speak and said…

Peter proceeded to speak. Now, we know that Peter doesn’t often have a hard time holding his tongue – he frequently has something to say, and often it’s not good. Think of where we were a week ago – Peter is speaking, sure, but he’s denying that he even knows who Jesus is. Not exactly the perfect model of discipleship, right?

Peter’s encounter with the Risen Lord changes him. It drives out his fear. It fills him with hope. And it gives him the courage to finally, really speak: to proclaim the truth that Jesus Christ, once crucified, now lives; and that all who believe in Him will receive forgiveness of their sins. So we have to ask ourselves, then: are we allowing our encounter with the Risen Lord today to change us? Are we willing to speak, instead of just talking? Perhaps more importantly, and more fundamental to our celebration today: are we even open to encountering the Risen Christ? That can be a difficult question, so I leave you with Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI’s thoughts on the encounter with the Risen One, from his 2011 Easter homily:

In truth, this encounter had something unsettling about it. The world had changed. This man who had died was now living with a life that was no longer threatened by any death. A new form of life had been inaugurated, a new dimension of creation. The first day, according to the Genesis account, is the day on which creation begins. Now it was the day of creation in a new way, it had become the day of the new creation. We celebrate the first day. And in so doing we celebrate God the Creator and his creation. Yes, we believe in God, the Creator of heaven and earth. And we celebrate the God who was made man, who suffered, died, was buried and rose again. We celebrate the definitive victory of the Creator and of his creation. We celebrate this day as the origin and the goal of our existence. We celebrate it because now, thanks to the risen Lord, it is definitively established that reason is stronger than unreason, truth stronger than lies, love stronger than death. We celebrate the first day because we know that the black line drawn across creation does not last for ever. We celebrate it because we know that those words from the end of the creation account have now been definitively fulfilled: “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Amen.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

March 25th, 2018 - Palm Sunday - I love Holy Week. I really do. But man, is it busy. It’s more than just busy, though; it’s intense. The readings and prayers for the first few days of the week are poignant enough, but once Thursday morning rolls around, things get really serious. We start with the Chrism Mass at the cathedral, at which all of the priests of the Diocese will renew the promises they made at their ordination. The Bishop will also bless and consecrate all the holy oils to be used throughout the Diocese during that Mass, which always helps make concrete the reality that the Diocese isn’t a collection of churches but is, in fact, one Church. That night, we’ll celebrate as a parish family the institution of the Eucharist at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, and then we’ll have an opportunity to visit our Lord in the Eucharist at seven different churches as we remember the agony he endured in the garden.

The next day, we’ll once again recall His Passion and Death, and we’ll also have the opportunity to venerate the cross, on which hung the salvation of the world. On Saturday, the Church waits in silence near the tomb, but that night … that night everything changes. As the Church keeps her long vigil, light suddenly appears, eventually filling the church building and our hearts with new life and grace. Sunday morning, the Church rejoices at the empty tomb, knowing that death and sin no longer have power over us, but that Christ truly has risen from the dead.

Yeah, they make for some intense liturgies and good chances to pray. And, sure, they can even be a bit emotionally exhausting, but … think of how intense they must have been for Jesus. That whole week, as His disciples are getting excited about celebrating Passover, only He really knows what’s about to happen. Even Judas, with all his scheming, doesn’t realize how this story ends. As His own mother is left to stare at the cross and wonder why this is happening to her son, He understands not only why this is happening – but for who. And that “who” is us.

Intense, isn’t it? This Holy Week, as we contemplate what Our Lord did for us in those days, let us ask Him to remind us of our dignity; ask Him to remind you that you are worth the price He paid. And ask Him for the grace to live like it.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

March 18th - Fifth Sunday in Lent - About a year ago, I was introduced to a relatively new piece of music called Requiem for the Living, and I was recently re-introduced to it as several of my friends were just involved in a performance of it. The Requiem was composed by Dan Forrest, a contemporary American composer. It is one of the most amazing works I’ve ever heard; any attempt of mine to describe it would fall flat – however, at the risk of sounding cliché, I will call it transcendent. There are a couple versions of it on YouTube; I think the performance by the Rivertree Singers is the best. Look it up – it will be 45 minutes well spent.

This piece breaks some of the traditional “rules” for a requiem. First and foremost, it’s for the living, whereas we generally associate a requiem as being for the dead. The point of a requiem, however, is to pray for the repose of the soul of a deceased person. Forrest has written this piece to be a plea for rest for the living – rest from the pain and suffering that we all, at times, deal with. It also becomes a plea for peace of soul, because too often, our pain and suffering can lead to a crisis of faith. This piece also breaks structural rules, by placing the Agnus Dei before the Sanctus. The reason for doing so is because, when confronted with all this pain and suffering, people need to see the Lamb of God, who died to redeem us, to give us hope. The Sanctus then becomes a response to that: recognition of the Lamb of God leads to understanding that the heavens and earth are full of His glory, and therefore pain and suffering will never have the last word.

There are, I think, parallels to this weekend’s readings here. Jeremiah is prophesying to a people who are suffering, but he reminds them that God is still not done with them and will do greater things for them than what He has already done. The author of the letter to the Hebrews reminds the Church that it was precisely the suffering of Christ that led to eternal salvation for all who obey Him. Even Jesus appears to be troubled at the thought of what is going to happen to him in Jerusalem, yet He undergoes it willingly so that we might have life.

Lent is not to be a time of suffering; the Cross is not meant to be a stumbling block. This is a time of hope and a promise of life. In these waning days of Lent, let us keep our eyes and hearts fixed firmly on the Cross so that we might not be distracted by anything of this world, and so receive the peace and rest our Lord wants to give.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

March 11th - Fourth Sunday in Lent - You may have noticed that there are two options given for the readings this week. There were last week, as well, and there will be again next week. Really astute observers may have noticed that the other option given was the readings from Year A … and yet we’ve been in Year B since the first week of Advent. There are, of course, good reasons for this: the readings from Year A are always read when the scrutinies of the elect are celebrated.

The scrutinies are tied to the rites of Christian initiation. They are, according to the rite, “meant to uncover, then heal all that is weak, defective, or sinful in the hearts of the elect; to bring out, then strengthen all that is upright, strong, and good.” Those who will come into the Church at the Easter Vigil (and, for that matter, all those already in the Church) should have, according to the rite, “…[the] intention of achieving an intimate knowledge of Christ…[and] to progress in genuine self-knowledge through serious examination of their lives and true repentance.”

The reason the Church proscribes the same readings for the scrutinies every year is because of how powerful those readings are. The scrutinies are not just designed to elicit a desire for purification, but also a desire for redemption by Christ. Through these readings, then, the spirits of the elect (and again, by extension, the spirits of the entire Church) are “filled with Christ the Redeemer, who is the living water (gospel of the Samaritan woman in the first scrutiny), the light of the world (gospel of the man born blind in the second scrutiny), the resurrection and the life (gospel of Lazarus in the third scrutiny).”

The entire rite of Christian initiation is beautiful and complex; I could write pages on it. (Perhaps it might become the topic of a lecture series this summer? I have a couple ideas in the works…) The scrutinies are part of that rite that are frequently found to be burdensome, and sometimes overlooked, which is a real pity, because of what they remind us of: the purification and redemption offered to us through Jesus Christ. During this second half of Lent, consider prayerfully reading those three gospels, and ask the Lord to purify and redeem you. Above all, pray for our brothers and sisters – both in our parish and throughout the world – who will be coming into the Church this Easter.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

March 4th Third Sunday of Lent - Last week I promised you theology. I should be more careful about what I promise. I was looking at this Sunday’s Gospel, and the ending really stuck out at me. “But Jesus would not trust Himself to them because He knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it very well.” There are so many different things happening here, I’m hardly sure of where to start.

The best place might be in considering, first of all, what it means for Jesus to know them all. This doesn’t refer to Jesus’ level of familiarity with the crowd that was gathered around him, but refers to something far greater: His perfect knowledge. Jesus is the Word made flesh: the Word through which all things were made. There is nothing about any of us that He does not know. Thus He has no need of anyone to testify to their nature; He already knows everything. So, whereas any of us have to presume the goodwill of another until their true character can be determined, Jesus can act according to their condition immediately because He knows them. And He knows that, in this case, the crowd believes in Him imperfectly. They were willing to believe in His Name, but not entirely in Him. The concept of His divinity was too great for them to grasp at this point. Since their belief was imperfect, it was therefore that He not trust Himself entirely to them – that is, that He not reveal all of His secret mysteries to them – at that point.

Did I lose you in all that? You try summarizingSt. Thomas Aquinas’ Commentary on John while listening to the Pens game on the radio. It’s not easy.

The takeaway is this. As partakers of His body and blood, we are already in possession of one of the greatest mysteries of our faith. We don’t get to use that excuse. Rather, it is incumbent on us for our belief to be perfect – or at least, for us to be working out that perfection. How, then, do we make our belief perfect? Well, sometimes the old clichés are true: Practice really does make perfect. Practice living out the Ten Commandments, as God commanded the Israelites to do in today’s first reading. Practice contemplation of the crucifix, as Saint Paul exhorted the Corinthians in the second reading.

Practice your faith. Make it perfect. And entrust your heart to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. HE already understands you very well. Hold nothing back from Him.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

February 25th, 2018 - Hopefully everyone has received their Lenten mailing by now. By far the most important part is the brochure detailing all the different events offered during this holy season (as well as some trailers for upcoming events), but there was a second part to the mailing as well. Included in the mailing was a brochure from the Diocese regarding the 2018 Parish Share program.

As the brochure detailed, the Parish Share program is an opportunity for all the faithful of the Church of Pittsburgh to participate in the greater life of our diocesan community by helping to fund some of the centrally-administered programs; programs that are vitally important both to our local church, and to the larger community.

Our support of the Parish Share program helps fund the charitable works of the church throughout all six counties of the diocese. Funds are also going to enhance diocesan communications, so that all manner of media, especially social media, can be leveraged to spread the love and truth of the Gospel. The Parish Share program helps fund the education of our seminarians, and we at Saint Richard are direct beneficiaries of that. It also funds continuing education for our priests, deacons, and lay ecclesial ministers, especially those engaged in catechesis. And, with a faith formation program as large and vibrant as ours is, that is also of critical importance. Parish Share also helps support our retired priests who have literally given everything for the good of our souls.

Once our parish reaches its assessed goal, every dollar raised for Parish Share remains in the parish and will not be assessed in establishing next year’s goal. In a manner of speaking, it becomes tax-free income for the parish (it’s not a perfect analogy, but it works). We are assessed 17.6% of our operating income from last year, which means our Parish Share goal for 2018 is $138,338. I had a mild heart attack when I first saw that number, but when it gets spread out over the remainder of the calendar year and given the number of people that attend Mass on any given weekend, it’s very attainable. (Then I had visions of amortization schedules in my head and had flashbacks to my mortgage days. It almost led to another mild heart attack.)

There are two easy ways to give. For those of us who use Faith Direct, simply log into your account and update your giving profile. You’ll see Parish Share 2018 as an option. For those who still use envelopes, you’ll see two fields on the front of the envelope – one for your weekly gift, and one for parish share. Simply indicate both gifts on the envelope and include two checks (it makes life a lot easier for the counters). There will not be a separate envelope for Parish Share.

As I said at a few of the Masses a few weeks ago, I hate doing the money talk. Writing about it is no fun either. I’d rather stick to theology. But my responsibility – and my commitment to you – is to exercise prudent stewardship of the parish so that we can be successful in our work of building up God’s kingdom here on earth. Parish Share, and the weekly offertory, is a major part of that. Please be as generous as you can, and please continue to pray for our parish and our diocese.

Next week: theology. I promise.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

February 18th First Sunday of Lent- There’s a neat tradition in Rome during Lent that, now that I’m back home, I wish I had participated more fully in when I lived there. It’s called the station church pilgrimage, and it’s been happening for well over 1,500 years. Every day, the seminarians would rise before the crack of dawn and walk to one of the more ancient churches in the city for daily Mass. Ash Wednesday, for example, is celebrated at Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill; to get there in time for a 6:45 Mass, one needed to leave the seminary by 5:55. My aversion to all things morning made this a very sacrificial day, indeed. Thankfully, the pilgrimage was optional.

But why do it at all? It wasn’t just so we could get to see some churches that we otherwise wouldn’t; the custom is deeply rooted in prayer. In the second and third centuries, the popes made it a priority to celebrate Mass in different parts of the city each day to help unify the community. By the fifth century, once Christianity became legal the political situation in Rome had stabilized, the schedule became more or less set for these visits. In the days before Lent started, the pope would celebrate Mass at the three major basilicas outside the walls of the city, thus forming a ring of prayer around Rome; his daily visits to different neighborhoods were meant to sanctify that part of the city, to prepare it for the coming feasts of the Triduum and Easter. The community would gather with the pope at one church, called the collectum, and after saying some prayers, they would then go in solemn procession to the statio, or station, church for Mass. And if the statio was in your neighborhood, it was a fast day for you. The people understood their responsibility on that day to be like that of a soldier on guard duty, and took it seriously. They were protecting their homes from vice and temptation; from evil.

Now that our Lent is a few days old, we should ask ourselves how well we’re doing at resisting temptations and vices. What are we doing to sanctify our neighborhoods? Our schools? Our homes? It’s not an easy task, and we won’t be successful without relying on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – but, with the grace of God, it can be done.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

February 11th - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We may not like it, but generosity and risk often go hand-in-hand. At least, that’s what Jesus shows us in today’s Gospel as a leper approaches him for healing. Until the nineteenth century, lepers were shunned to the margins of society for fear of spreading the disease. To touch a leper was to risk becoming unclean yourself. In today’s Gospel, Jesus defies convention. “Moved with pity, he reached out his hand, [and] touched him.” The leper is healed! But this is not the only risk Jesus takes.

Before Jesus heals the man, he knows full well the desperate nature of his situation. Jesus knows that this man will be overjoyed upon being healed and that he just might tell everyone he knows. For a Messiah looking to temporarily fly under the radar, healing this particular leper might not be the best idea. Jesus heals anyway.

It can be easy to become calculated in our giving. If I go out of my way to help this person, how will it affect my reputation? How will this charitable donation affect my budget? How could I possibly make time to volunteer regularly? In today’s Gospel, Jesus casts these concerns aside. He touches the untouchable. He reaches the unreachable. For his efforts, he receives a betrayal of his request for silence. “The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.” Before long “it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.” Jesus is forced to remain “outside in the deserted places.” It would appear, perhaps, that he is unable to accomplish his mission.

When we take a risk to be generous, things might not follow the prescribed path. We might be disappointed. We also might be surprised! Our witness to radical generosity is attractive to a world in desperate need. Indeed, when Jesus took risks for love, “People kept coming to him from everywhere.”

February 4th - For most of us, the dynamic between prayer and action is imperfect. Breakfast needs to be made and the kids dressed. Work demands our energy and additional responsibilities fill our evenings and weekends. Then there's the football game or a new TV series to stream. After all, don't we need to relax?

We're all busy. But just imagine Jesus' situation in today's Gospel. He heals Peter's mother-in-law, drives out demons, and cures diseases late into the night. With very little sleep, he arises before dawn to capture some peace and quiet, only to find "those who were with him pursued him." How often do we feel pursued by the harried commitments, even when we try to seek rest? Perhaps we can learn something from the response of Jesus.

Jesus models two key things: the essential nature of prayer and the essential call of vocation. "He went off to a deserted place, where he prayed." Despite inevitable exhaustion, Jesus prioritizes time with the Father. We might not have easy access to deserts and mountaintops, but today's Gospel challenges us to take intentional time set apart for God. We can designate a "prayer chair" in a corner of our home or leave a little earlier to pick our children up from school so we can snatch time in a nearby chapel. We can pray the rosary on our commute or take the dog for a long walk in silence.

However, when the Apostles arrive, Jesus doesn't linger overlong in the deserted place or make an excuse for why he can't return with his friends. Jesus is true to his calling. He continues on in his state of life, serving the people nearest to him. Like Jesus, we are invited to set intentional time for communion with God so that we can be refreshed and empowered for our communion with others.

January 28th - I want to use this week’s column to talk abouttwo things that I feel I’ve been neglecting. One is rather simple, the other is perhaps a little more complicated, so we’ll start with the simple first: A very heart-felt thank you to everyone who sent cards, gifts, and various food items over the holidays. Most especially, thank you for your prayers. The idealist in me wants to be able to send a personalized thank you note to each one of you; the realist in me thinks that’s a nice idea, but probably not going to happen. I’m not really able to express how grateful I am anyway, so maybe it’s for thebest. Thank you, and know of my continued prayers for our entire parish family for a blessed 2018. Now then, onto the more complicated piece: On Mission for the Church Alive. I haven’t been writing much or saying much about it recently, but with good reason: there’s not too much to update you on. You may have heard, however, that some of our neighboring parishes have been asked to consider some new models that are a bit different than what was originally proposed. At this point, we have not been asked to do that, nor do I expect us to be. Shortly after I arrived last summer, there was a meeting to briefly explore an option that would include St. Richard as part of a larger group encompassing more of the Route 8 corridor, but it seems that that model didn’t gain any traction. In my humble (but correct!) opinion, it shouldn’t have, anyway. So, it seems that, at this point, it looks like our grouping will be us and Saint Catherine, but nothing is final yet. It is expected that all decisions will be made by the end of April. The current plan is that, at the Spring Clergy Convocation in April, the bishop will announce the new parish groupings as well as the new clergy assignments for those groupings. Each grouping will also be given a blueprint to follow which will enable them to effectively merge into one parish in a given time frame. The new andold clergy teams will meet throughout the summer to work out new Mass schedules for each parish, and then, in mid-October, new assignments will begin. No mergers will happen at that point, those will come later. That’s a lot of words to tell you that I have nothing to tell you, but I just felt like I needed to write something. A lot of my brother priests are going through a good deal of anxiety right now about On Mission because their parishes are maybe not as well-prepared for it as we are, or are going to face more drastic changes than we are, and maybe I’m transferring that onto you. As always, if you havequestions about the process, don’t believe the rumor mill, and don’t give in to gossip. Talk to me. I’ll answer what I can and try to get you a real answer if I don’t know something.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

January 21st - Hard as it is to believe, the new year is already three weeks old … and I hope you’re making more progress with your resolutions than I am. Truth be told, my issue isn’t that I’m not making progress with them; rather, it’s that I never even started to work on them. Procrastinationis but one of my many talents, but I’ll tell you about that later. I think the biggest reason I never follow through on resolutions is that I don’t like making them in the first place. I’m not good at writing forward-looking statements, so I make these vague statements that I never seem to be able to tackle: lose a bunch of weight; pray more; read more, and so forth.

At some point I need to muster up the discipline to commit to seeing these things through. I need to work out a plan, and then I need to start executing it … and above all, I have to hold myself accountable. That “some point” ought to be soon. In fact, the readings this weekend all carry a sense of urgency about them. They all indicate that we need to respond to God’s call to conversion – His call to holiness – now. Right now. Not in a few days, or when we feel like it, or when it’s more convenient … but right now. Because His call matters more than any message the world might have for us. Indeed, living out His call brings change to the world.

So quit thinking about your resolutions. Start doing them. Quit thinking about being a disciple. Start being one. And quit thinking about being holy, and just be it. This is too important. This can’t wait. There’s no room for procrastination here.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

December 24th - 4th Week of Advent - Is it the fourth Sunday of Advent, still, or is it now officially Christmas Eve? Maybe by now it’s Christmas Day … or maybe you got this early, and it’s not even Christmas yet. We should be, perhaps, less concerned about what the date is, though, and more concerned about what it is that we celebrate. As is sung in the old Irish carol (and my personal favorite), The Wexford Carol:

Good people all, this Christmas time/Consider well, and bear in mind/What our good God for us has done/In sending His beloved Son./With Mary holy, we should pray/to God with love, this Christmas Day/In Bethlehem upon that morn/There was a blessed Messiah born.

Consider well, and bear in mind, friends. Consider that the angel told Mary that her son would be called Jesus, and that He would be great and called Son of the Most High; that the Lord God would give him the throne of David his Father and He would rule over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there would be no end. Consider that nations shall behold our vindication, and all the kings our glory, and that we will be called by a new name, pronounced by the mouth of the Lord. Or consider that the people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light, and that they have received abundant joy and great rejoicing. Consider that in times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, but in these last days, He has spoken to us through His Son.

Bear in mind that what we celebrate today lasts. It endures. The light of this great feast shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And it cannot, and will not, ever overcome it. Let us not worry about the day, but let us worry about keeping the light shining in our hearts. Let this Christmas bear much fruit in your lives, that many others may be attracted to the joy of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

Merry Christmas!

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

December 17th - 3rd Week of Advent - I was going to use this space to share another reflection from a seminary professor, this time on the “O Antiphons” of Advent. Everyone’s very familiar with them, since they form the basis for theclassic hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” … but that’s going to have to get moved to my blog. I need to use this space to remind you of something else.

There’s some confusion out there about how next Sunday works. Is it the Fourth Sunday of Advent, or is it Christmas Eve? Is it both? More importantly, do I have to go to Mass twice?

(You’re not really freaking out over the possibility that you might have to go to Mass twice in one day, are you? I mean, if you can think of a better or more appropriate way to commemorate the birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I’d love to hear it. And if He’s not central to your celebration of Christmas, then you’re not really celebrating Christmas, are you? Anyway, enough of my ranting …)

Anyway, the rules are actually pretty clear. First things first: you have to go to Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, which means you go either Saturday night, or at one of the Masses on Sunday morning. (Please note there will NOT be a Mass at noon next week.) You also have to go to Mass for Christmas. Again, you have options: the 4:00 pm Mass in the church; the 4:10 pm in the social hall; the 6:30 pm in the church; the 10:00 pm in the church; or the 10:00 am Christmas Day in the church.

So do you have to go to Mass twice in one day? Only if you want to. I even know some people who are working their schedule out so they don’t have to go to Mass at all on Sunday; instead, they’re going Saturday night and Monday morning. The important thing is that they’re planning on going both times, though.

Christmas is a great feast, but to celebrate it well takes the proper preparation. Make sure you’re ready and celebrate both the Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas itself. See you at Mass!

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

December 10th - 2nd Week in Advent - I admit I’m frustrated by how short Advent is this year, and it’s not just because it makes what is already a busy schedule that much more hectic. It’s because I genuinely like Advent. Granted, I’m not good at patience, and I’m not good at waiting, but there’s something about the liturgies of this season that really speak to me. Everything seems to be more focused. In fact, Advent is considered to be one of the “strong” seasons of the liturgical year (Lent is another), and the liturgy takes on a different tone during those seasons. For example, vestments change; the Gloria is not sung; each day has specific prayers at Mass …but it’s not just the Mass that sees some changes, it’s the entirety of the Church’s liturgy, which includes the Liturgy of the Hours: Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and the other hours.

If you joined us for solemn evening prayer last Sunday, or are planning on coming this week or next, you’ll notice one of these changes in the hymn we sing. The hymn is called Creator of the Stars of Night, an English translation of a much older – ninth century – hymn called the Conditor Alme Siderum. If you can’t make it to evening prayer, I encourage you to prayerfully read the hymn before Mass starts and meditate on it; it’s a wonderful way to enter fully into the Advent season. What follows is a reflection on this ancient hymn, written by one of my seminary professors, Fr. Kurt Belsole, OSB.

Remarkable in its poetry and direct in its expression, this is one of the hymns of the Liturgy of the Hours that the Church uses to introduce us to the mysteries of Christ as celebrated throughout the liturgical year. As the days become shorter and the light of the sun diminishes, Christ is invoked as the Creator of the stars (Jn. 1:3 Omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est/all things were made through him and without him nothing was made) and the eternal light of those who believe—a theme which is also found in the hymn for Morning Prayer for Advent, the Vox Clara Ecce Intonat (Jn. 1: 9 Erat lux vera quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in mundum/He was the true light who enlightens everyone who comes into the world). Already this hymn anticipates the victory of light over darkness, which we will celebrate on Christmas Day as the Light of the World is born among us. Nonetheless, the theme of Christ as Judge, which we find dominating the first part of Advent, is present as well.

The Conditor Alme Siderum binds together in a marvelous way the first and the final comings of Christ. In its initial two verses, this hymn invokes the Lord as the redeemer of all, one who is saddened at the destruction of the world through sin, and the medicine for those who have fallen. Its third verse focuses on the Incarnation of the Word when the fullness of time had come and when the world had come to eventide. It is then that the Lord as a bridegroom from his bridal chamber is born of the most pure womb of the Virgin Mother. To understand the expression of the world coming to its close, one should keep in mind that for the ancient Christian, it was customary to divide the age of the world into six periods: the first from Adam to Noah, the second from Noah to Abraham, the third from Abraham to David, the fourth from David to the Babylonian captivity, the fifth from the Babylonian captivity to Christ, and the sixth from Christ to the final judgment.

The cosmic sense of the sacred liturgy is found in verse four where it echoes Saint Paul’s hymn in his Letter to the Philippians 2:10 speaking of how all things in heaven and on earth bend their knee to Christ and profess that they are subject to him as Lord. Verse five then addresses Christ as the one who will come to judge the world, and the Church prays that, during this present time, the Lord preserve us from our treacherous foe. Nevertheless, the theme of Christ as Judge reminds us of Saint Augustine writing the following: “How good it will be to have as judge, someone who a short time ago was our advocate before the Father” (see 1 Jn. 2:1). Finally, the hymn concludes in the customary way with the doxology to the Most Blessed Trinity.

Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

December 3rd - First Week of Advent - I am a native Pittsburgher, and in many ways, I am a stereotypical Pittsburgher. When I give directions, I tend to use landmarks that aren’t there anymore (Go up the hill and turn right where the ThriftDrug used to be). I think it’s normal to put french fries on salads (and sandwiches, of course). I don’t like crossing bridges and will always think the South Hills is superior to the North Hills. I know there are people that aren’t Steelers fans, but I can’t understand how their minds work. I have an irrational distaste for most things related to Cleveland.

The one Pittsburgh thing I don’t do is use “Pittsburghese” on a regular basis … although I am fluent in it. It occasionally comes out, often at inopportune times. I once warned my college roommate to be careful on the sidewalk because it was “slippy.” He fell, and then accused me of using made-up words. For the record, he’s from southern West Virginia, and I didn’t understand half the stuff he said on a regular basis. He now lives in Robinson, so I hope he’s learning the language.

One Pittsburghese phrase I never liked was “redd up”. For the uninitiated, it means basically what it sounds like: to make something ready, to clean, neaten, or tidy up a room or an area. Some of us are better at keeping things redd up than others are, but regardless, it’s an important, and responsible, thing to do. (Full disclosure: I am not good at this, which is why I never liked hearing it in the first place.)

Advent is about getting our souls redd up for the coming of Christ. As the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer for the early part of Advent says, “…He assumed at his first coming the lowliness of human flesh, and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago, and opened for us the way to eternal salvation, that, when he comes again in glory and majesty and all is at last made manifest, we who watch for that day may inherit the great promise in which now we dare to hope.”

Take this Advent to make yourselves ready for the coming of Christ. Spend time praying with the Scriptures. Turn to Our Blessed Mother with the Rosary. Pray with the Church at Vespers on Sunday evenings. Spend time at Eucharistic Adoration. Go to Confession. You’ll find our complete Advent schedule on the website. Use these days to get ready for Christ; everything else about this time of year is unimportant.

"Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me." Today we celebrate the feast of an unusual kind of king. Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, does not run his kingdom in the standard fashion. Instead of insisting upon the pomp and circumstance that usually surrounds earthly royalty, Jesus has a different focus. He thinks not of himself, but of those he loves. And in today's Gospel, his interest is especially focused on the poor and suffering in our midst.

Our King asks us to care for those in need--the hungry, the homeless, the foreigner, the sick and suffering. But then, he goes farther; he tells us that in caring for these least brethren, we will be ministering to HIM! What an incredible promise. Not only do we carry out the command to love our neighbor when we protect those in need, but we also show our love for Jesus in a direct and concrete way. This love for Christ through others is so real that Jesus actually tells us that our place on Judgment Day will depend on it: "'What you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment." On the other hand, the "righteous" who ministered to the weak and poor will enjoy eternal life. Our King has spoken loud and clear. Now comes the question of whether or not we are obeying his orders?

Each of us is called to examine how well we are caring for the least among us. Sometimes, this means giving our time and energy for special ministries or missions, but often it means caring for those right in front of us--the sick or suffering in our own homes, families, neighborhoods, or parishes. Whatever our situation, may we have the eyes to see Christ in our midst and serve him.

November 19th - I took last week off, since I can’t carry vacation days into the next year…so once more, I’m featuring a guest columnist this week: Pope Francis.

“The meaning of [today’s parable] is clear. The man in the parable represents Jesus, we are the servants, and the talents are the inheritance that the Lord entrusts to us. What is the inheritance? His Word, the Eucharist, faith in the Heavenly Father, his forgiveness..., in other words, so many things, hismost precious treasures. This is the inheritance that He entrusts to us, not only to safeguard, but to make fruitful! While in common usage the term ‘talent’ indicates a pronounced individual quality, for example talent in music, in sport, and so on, in the parable, talent represent the riches of the Lord, which He entrusts to us so that we make them bear fruit. The hole dug into the soil by the ‘wicked and slothful servant’ (v. 26) points to the fear of risk which blocks creativity and the fruitfulness of love, because the fear of the risks of love stop us. Jesus does not ask us to store his grace in a safe! Jesus does not ask us for this, but He wants us to use it to benefit others. All the goods that we have received are to give to others, and thus they increase, as if He were to tell us: ‘Here is my mercy, my tenderness, my forgiveness: take them and make ample use of them’. And what have we done with them? Whom have we ‘infected’ with our faith? How many people have we encouraged with our hope? How much love have we shared with our neighbour? These are questions that will do us good to ask ourselves. Any environment, even the furthest and most impractical, can become a place where our talents can bear fruit. There are no situations or places precluded from the Christian presence and witness. The witness which Jesus asks of us is not closed, but is open, it is in our hands.

This parable urges us not to conceal our faith and our belonging to Christ, not to bury the Word of the Gospel, but to let it circulate in our life, in our relationships, in concrete situations, as a strength which galvanizes, which purifies, which renews. Similarly, the forgiveness, which the Lord grants us particularly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation: let us not keep it closed within ourselves, but let us allow it to emit its power, which brings down the walls that our egoism has raised, which enables us to take the first step in strained relationships, to resume the dialogue where there is no longer communication.... And so forth. Allow these talents, these gifts, these presents that the Lord has given us, to be, to grow, to bear fruit for others, with our witness.

I think it would be a fine gesture for each of you to pick up the Gospel at home today, the Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 25, verses 14 to 30, Matthew 25:14-30, and read this, and meditate a bit: ‘The talents, the treasures, all that God has given me, all things spiritual, all goodness, the Word of God, how do I make this grow in others? Or do I merely store it in a safe?’.

Moreover, the Lord does not give the same things to everyone in the same way: He knows us personally and entrusts us with what is right for us; but in everyone, in all, there is something equal: the same, immense trust. God trusts us, God has hope in us! And this is the same for everyone. Let us not disappoint Him! Let us not be misled by fear, but let us reciprocate trust with trust! The Virgin Mary embodied this attitude in the fullest and most beautiful way. She received and welcomed the most sublime gift, Jesus himself, and in turn she offered Him to mankind with a generous heart. Let us ask Her to help us to be ‘good and faithful servants’ in order to participate ‘in the joy of our Lord’”.

Oremus pro invicem!

November 12th - Last Sunday was pretty surreal. The weather was remarkably unseasonal; the church itself was uncomfortably hot, and, thanks to the time change, the day seemed confused and just out of sorts. IfI’m honest with myself, it really threw me off, and left me cranky and whiny. Until I got home that afternoon. My plan was to relax a little - after three Masses and Confirmation practice, I need that - so I would watch a little football, take a little nap and rest up for that night.

But first I wanted to check the news. And I heard for the first time about the shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas. And I felt pretty dang ridiculous. I was going to complain about the church being hot? My feet hurt? I only got one donut? At least we’re all still alive. At least it didn’t happen here.

But should I be worried about any of that? Should any of us? Saint Paul reminds us this morning that, “if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”

So we can worry about things that are, ultimately, insignificant little details of our daily life. Or we can live in fear about things that, most likely, will never happen here. Or, we can live in hope. We can spend our days working to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ; to come closer to Him and to open ourselves to His grace so that God can indeed bring us to life through Him. I know which one I choose.

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

November 5th - Since it’s November now (how did that happen?), I think it’s worth mentioning that this month is particularly dedicated to the souls of the faithful departed. Of course, November 2nd was the Feast of All Souls, which is a day especially dedicated to the dead, but the Church sets aside the entire month to their memory. In a particular way, the Church asks that the faithful pray for the souls in purgatory during this month. But do we really understand what purgatory is? Do we even still believe in it?

To answer the last question first, yes, we very much still do believe in purgatory. But no, I don’t think we know what it is. So here’s a bit of a refresher. Purgatory is not, as many people think, one last trial; all of those who make it to Purgatory will one day be in Heaven. Purgatory is where those who have died in grace, but who have not fully atoned for the temporal punishments resulting from their sins, go to finish their atonement before entering Heaven. A soul in Purgatory may suffer, but he has the assurance that he will ultimately enter Heaven when his punishment is complete. Catholics believe Purgatory is an expression of God’s love, His desire to cleanse our souls of all that might keep us from experiencing the fullness of joy in Heaven.

As Christians, we don’t travel through this world alone. Our salvation is wrapped up with the salvation of others, and charity requires us to come to their aid. The same is true of the Holy Souls. In their time in Purgatory, they can pray for us, and we should pray for the faithful departed that they may be freed from the punishment for their sins and enter into Heaven.

We should pray for the dead throughout the year, especially on the anniversary of their death, but in this Month of the Holy Souls, we should devote some time every day to prayer for the dead. We should start with those closest to us—our grandparents, for instance—but we should also offer prayers for all the souls, and especially for those most forsaken.

On a related note, please also pray for deceased priests. A good priest friend of mine, who’s been at this business longer than I’ve been alive, always likes to say, “You know, there’s no one deader than a dead priest.” What he means is that, largely by extension of us not raising a physical family of our own, we can quickly be forgotten after we die. Let’s not forget about the deceased priests who labored so much for us and for our souls when they were alive.

We believe that those Holy Souls for whom we pray will continue to pray for us after they have been released from Purgatory. If we live Christian lives, we too will likely find ourselves in Purgatory someday, and our acts of charity toward the Holy Souls there now will ensure that they remember us before the throne of God when we are most in need of prayers. It’s a comforting thought, and one that should encourage us, especially in this month of November, to offer our prayers for the Holy Souls.Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

October 29th - "The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Jesus gives us a simple moral principle in today’s Gospel. He speaks about two kinds of love: love of God and love of neighbor. He tells us that all the other laws and teachings of our faith fall under these two headings. So if we can master these, we will be in good spiritual shape!First of all, regarding the love of God, Jesus tells us in essence that we must love God completely and entirely, with our whole being--heart, soul, and mind. If we are holding back from a full commitment to God, then we are falling short of this vision. So we would do well to examine ourselves and find those trouble spots where we are hesitant to give God everything. Is there a relationship we hold in our heart that is somehow separating us from God, either by negative association, lingering bitterness, or a kind of idol-worship of the relationship itself? What about our souls? Are we deeply attached to any pastimes, pleasures, or pursuits that cloud our soul from clearly welcoming the presence of God? An examination of our minds is in order as well. How do we direct our thoughts? Do we strive to form our conscience and understanding in the truth, or do we passively allow public opinion or popular consensus to direct our conclusions about the Church, the world, and our own identity?It follows that the closer we come to loving God with our whole being, the better we will be at loving our neighbors. The more we are filled with God’s love, the more that love radiates out to those around us, and the less we concern ourselves about what we can get out of the deal. So let us truly love God, and all the rest will follow.

October 22nd- There’s a lot going on and only so much space to fill, so let me just jump right to it. First, some notes about the entire On Mission for the Church Alive! process. As you are most likely aware, the On Mission Commission formally made their recommendations regarding future parish groupings to the bishop last month. He will continue to consult with his primary advisory bodies – the diocesan pastoral and finance councils, as well as priest council – regarding those recommendations. Even now, no decisions have been made – in fact, several of the groupings are still the subject of intense debate.

Concurrent with that process, the clergy personnel board has been interviewing all the priests on active assignment, basically asking them how they envision their ministry moving forward. What role do they feel they can play; where would they like to exercise that ministry; and who can they best work with. Mercifully (I’m on the board, hence I’ve been involved with this process), we finish the interviews this week. Our next task is to start discussions about future assignments so that we can make good recommendations to the bishop.

While all that is happening, the parish services department of diocesan central administration is working to put together so-called “blueprints” of how to implement the new parish groupings and to ease the transition for everyone involved.

As announced to the priests last Monday, the Bishop plans to reveal the new parish groupings and clergy assignments on Thursday, April 26, 2018. That begins the transition period, during which, among other things, a new Mass schedule will be developed for the new group. The new parish groupings, new clergy assignments and new Mass schedules will all become effective on Monday, October 15, 2018. Stay tuned for more information, and, as always, if you have questions about the process, please ask me. Don’t listen to rumors. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll do my best to get you one.

But that’s all still the far-off future. We have more immediate concerns. We’re having a party. Our Silver Jubilee celebration is this weekend. Friday night, join us for solemn evening prayer; Fr. Ken will be our presider and homilist. Afterwards, join us for a pot luck dinner in the hall. Saturday evening, join us for a festival of praise; Fr. Tom will be our presider. And Sunday morning, join us for the 10:00 am Mass, where Bishop Winter will be our celebrant and homilist. After the Mass, all are invited to brunch in the church hall. Please note there will be NO noon Mass next Sunday. For more information or to register for any of these events (they’re all free, of course), please call the parish office or visit our website.

It’s going to be a very busy week, but it’s going to be a very good one. Looking forward to celebrating with everyone!

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

October 15th - If you are reading this, then I am probably safely back from Rome. I say “probably” because I’m sure I’m still so jet-lagged I don’t even know who I am anymore. So I’m bringing in a guest columnist this week: the 266th Pope, none other than Pope Francis:

“In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to us about the response given to the invitation from God — who is represented by a king — to participate in a wedding banquet (cf. Mt 22:1-14). The invitation has three characteristics: freely offered, breadth and universality. Many people were invited, but something surprising happened: none of the intended guests came to take part in the feast, saying they had other things to do; indeed, some were even indifferent, impertinent, even annoyed. God is good to us, he freely offers us his friendship, he freely offers us his joy, his salvation; but so often we do not accept his gifts, we place our practical concerns, our interests first. And when the Lord is calling to us, it so often seems to annoy us.

Some of the intended guests went so far as to abuse and kill the servants who delivered the invitation. But despite the lack of response from those called, God’s plan is never interrupted. In facing the rejection of the first invitees, He is not discouraged, He does not cancel the feast, but makes another invitation, expanding it beyond all reasonable limits, and sends his servants into the town squares and the byways to gather anyone they find. These, however, are ordinary, poor, neglected and marginalized people, good and bad alike — even bad people are invited — without distinction. And the hall is filled with “the excluded”. The Gospel, rejected by some, is unexpectedly welcomed in many other hearts.

The goodness of God has no bounds and does not discriminate against anyone. For this reason the banquet of the Lord’s gifts is universal, for everyone. Everyone is given the opportunity to respond to the invitation, to his call; no one has the right to feel privileged or to claim an exclusive right. All of this induces us to break the habit of conveniently placing ourselves at the centre, as did the High Priests and the Pharisees. One must not do this; we must open ourselves to the peripheries, also acknowledging that, at the margins too, even one who is cast aside and scorned by society is the object of God’s generosity. We are all called not to reduce the Kingdom of God to the confines of the “little church” — our “tiny little church” — but to enlarge the Church to the dimensions of the Kingdom of God. However, there is one condition: wedding attire must be worn, that is, charity toward God and neighbour must be shown.

Let us entrust the tragedies and the hopes of so many of our excluded, weak, outcast, scorned brothers and sisters, as well as of those who are persecuted for reasons of faith, to the intercession of Most Holy Mary!”

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

October 8th - As some of you are aware, my Mom recently had cataract surgery. It went just fine; she wasn’t even that nervous about it. I, on the other hand, was. I’m a professional worrier. Ironically, it’s a traitI get from Mom. The point is, she’s fine and can’t wait to go back and have the other eye done because of how clear and sharp her vision has become in the first eye.

Of course, now that her vision is so notably improved, she’s starting to notice things around the house that had previously escaped her attention. This needs cleaned, and that needs cleaned, and Michael, why is your hair so gray … all sorts of things that you don’t necessarily care to notice, but once you do, you can’t not see them.

It’s an easy trap to fall into – seeing only the negative things. There’s certainly no shortage of them these days. The ongoing crisis in Puerto Rico, the Las Vegas shootings, and everyone basically protesting everything are just a few examples – and that’s just from the United States. If we start to expand our scope, things only seem worse. It would be easy to just admit defeat, to just give up and to retreat inside of ourselves. It’s safer there. It’s more comfortable.

But it’s no place for a disciple. Saint Paul reminds us today that we, quite simply, cannot give up. That we must be serious about living out the calling that we have received. That we need to be earnest and zealous in our proclamation of the Gospel by both our words and our deeds because there are things that are true, and honorable, and just, and pure, and lovely, and gracious, and worthy of praise. And we see these things all the time: the Eucharist; the Scriptures; our brothers and sisters in Christ.

So let us pray this week that our vision might be healed that we can see these things more clearly and serve them more fully. The Lord has chosen us to go and bear fruit that will remain – so let us be about our work.

P.S. If everything is going according to plan on my pilgrimage, tomorrow I will be in Assisi. The plan is to celebrate Mass in the Capella della Pace (Chapel of Peace) in the Basilica of Saint Francis. My Mass intention will be for the spiritual welfare of the people of St. Richard Parish.

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

October 1st - SHOOT THE PUCK! Sorry…but with hockey season right around the corner, I’m trying to get ready. Truth be told, I can’t stand those people that are always screaming that at games, but I must behonest: I’ve been that guy on more than one occasion. As I imagine all hockey fans have. When you think about it, it’s ludicrous. I can’t even ice skate; so what makes me think I know more about how to play hockey than the guys who do it professionally? Especially when they’re the guys that just won back-to-back Stanley Cups? It would be like Sidney Crosby sitting in the front pew at Mass, yelling “Consecrate that host!” (Part of me thinks that would actually be cool.)

Well, if it’s ridiculous at a hockey game, then is it ridiculous in prayer? In today’s responsorial psalm, we pray, “Remember your mercies, O God.” Did we really think that He forgot? Are we really going to tell God what to do? That’s not what the psalms intend, of course. This psalm, and others like it, was intended for a time of crisis, be it personal or communal. At a time when God doesn’t seem to be active in the world, this psalm would remind the one praying it of everything that God has done for them, and affirm their belief that God is indeed present in that moment of crisis.

God doesn’t need to remember His mercies. He knows them quite well. But we do. We need to remember everything He has done for us. We need to remember that He has never abandoned us. And we need to live like people who have been guided and taught in His ways.

Just a programming note: I will be gone from October 4th to the 12th. Months ago, Fr. Will Wuenschel and I agreed to lead a pilgrimage to Rome for people from Saint Benedict the Abbot and Immaculate Conception parishes, since there was no chance we were going to be moving … and then we both got transferred. Please pray for us while we’re away; I will be praying for you all while I’m gone. I’ll only have limited access to email, so check with the Hardest Working Parish Staff in the Diocese if you need anything while I’m away. No promises, but I’ll try to update my blog periodically while I’m there: fathermikeconway.wordpress.com

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

September 24th - I often find myself preaching primarily on the Gospels at Sunday Mass, sometimes to the detriment of the other readings that are given us that day. At the time of writing this column, I haven’t prepared my homily yet, but considering what the Gospel is, I’m sure this week will be more of the same. At the same time, however, the second reading, from Saint Paul to the Philippians is very rich fare indeed, and we would be remiss not to say something about it. So I’m bringing in my favorite guest speaker today…Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

“Today’s liturgy began with the Reading from St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, namely to the members of the community that the Apostle himself founded in the city of Philippi, an important Roman colony in Macedonia, today northern Greece. Paul reached Philippi on his second missionary voyage, sailing across the Aegean Sea from Anatolia. This was the first time the Gospel arrived in Europe. It was in about the year 50, hence 20 years after Jesus’ death and Resurrection. Yet, the Letter to the Philippians contains a hymn to Christ which presents a complete synthesis of his mystery: incarnation, kenosis, that is, self-emptying to the point of death on the cross, and glorification.

This same mystery became one with the life of the Apostle Paul, who wrote this Letter while he was in prison, awaiting a sentence of life or death. He declared: ‘For me to live is Christ and to die is gain’ (Phil 1:21). This is a new meaning for life and of human existence, which consists in communion with the living Jesus Christ; not only with a historical figure, a teacher of wisdom, a religious leader, but with a man in whom God himself dwells. His death and Resurrection is the Good News, which, starting from Jerusalem, is destined to reach all men and all peoples, and to transform from within all cultures, opening them to the fundamental truth: God is love. He was made man in Jesus and with his sacrifice redeemed humanity from the slavery of evil, giving people a hope in which they could trust.

St. Paul was a man who summed up three worlds in himself: the Jewish, the Greek, and the Roman. Not by chance did God entrust to him the mission to take the Gospel to Asia Minor, to Greece and later to Rome, building a bridge that would take Christianity to the very ends of the earth. Today we live in an era of new evangelization. Vast horizons are opening to the proclamation of the Gospel while regions with an ancient Christian tradition are called to rediscover the beauty of faith.

The leaders of this mission are men and women who, like St Paul, can say: ‘For me to live is Christ’. People, families, and communities who agree to work in the Lord’s vineyard, according to the image in this Sunday’s Gospel(cf. Mt 20:1-16). Humble and gentle workers, who ask for no remuneration other than to share in the mission of Jesus and of his Church.

‘If it is to be life in the flesh’, St Paul writes further, ‘that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell’ (Phil 1:22): full union with Christ beyond death, or service to his mystical body on this earth.

Dear friends, the Gospel has transformed the world and is still transforming it, like a river that irrigates a vast field. Let us turn in prayer to the Virgin Mary, that priestly, religious and lay vocations may develop throughout the Church for the service of the new evangelization.”

Oremus pro invicem!

September 17th - Last Sunday was my two-month anniversary at Saint Richard Parish. I didn’t really notice, because who notices something as ridiculous as a two-month anniversary? Moreover, it doesn’t feel like it’s been two months … as they say, time flies when you’re having fun. And I’m having a lot of it. And I’m learning a lot, too – about what it means to be a pastor, but also about all of you. So before I become fully assimilated (and it will happen; resistance is futile), let me share with you an outsider’sperspective on the people of this parish…

· This place is a zoo, figuratively and almost literally. We have a bear, we have geese, we have deer, we have crows, various other small critters, and there’s a story about a goat coming to Christmas Mass. It’s a zoo. But on the other hand, it speaks to the peace and the beauty of this place, which we take for granted as we zip up the driveway at 40 miles an hour and go the wrong way against the one-way signs. It reminds us that, as the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ, wrote, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”

· This place is busy, and I mean busy. It seemed like there was a fair bot of things going on in July. Who was I kidding? I’m writing this on a Monday, a day you might think would be slow, but we’ve got back-to-back-to-back events lined up till about 9:00 pm or so. How the Hardest Working Parish Staff in the Diocese (that’s their unofficial title) manages to keep the schedule straight, I’ll never know. But our busy-ness is a sign of our vitality and of how alive we are in Christ. So, “let us not grow tired of doing good. For in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up.” (Gal. 6:9)

· This place communicates well. We have the website, the bulletin, the parish app, the Facebook page, twitter, Instagram, the video board in the narthex, the weekly email and the occasional mass mailing. And it’s not a one-way street; we get plenty of emails, notes, and calls from all of you that help us to serve you better. Let’s keep communicating, not only with one another, but with the rest of the world. “Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.” (2 Tim 4:2)

· This place prays well. Maybe that seems like it should be a given, but in some places it’s not. But our Masses are generally well-attended; the lines for confession are generally long; and we baptize a lot of babies. We sing at Mass, we have no shortage of volunteers … the only thing we need to work on is making sure we have folks for Eucharistic Adoration. It’s not a bad position to be in. But we can never grow slack. “Rejoice always! Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thess 5:16-17)

I’ve learned quite a bit in two months. Hopefully we have a lot more time together. Let’s keep listening to the Lord, to see what He wants to teach us next.Oremus pro invicem!Fr. Mike

September 10th - That God has a sense of humor is not in doubt, I think. But I do think we often overlook how sarcastic the Almighty is. Today’s responsorial psalm is evidence of it. Psalm 95 is heard occasionally at Mass,but is part of the Church’s liturgy every day, in that it is prayed as part of the Liturgy of the Hours. Many of you are already familiar with the Liturgy of the Hours, either because you pray it yourselves, or because you’ve prayed it with us at a function here at the parish. For the uninitiated, then, some explanation: the Liturgy of the Hours is the official set of prayers marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer. The day is broken into five “hours”: Morning, Daytime, Evening, and Night Prayer, and the Office of Readings. Generally, the hours consist of a hymn, some psalms and canticles, and sometimes some intercessions. The office of readings has psalms, and then longer readings from Scripture and other theological sources.

The day can start with either morning prayer or, traditionally, the office of readings. In either case, before starting the first hour of the day, one prays what is called an invitatory psalm, something to get the day started. And in most cases, it’s Psalm 95. By no stretch of the imagination can I be called a morning person, so I imagine God gets a good laugh of hearing me groan, yawn, and mumble my way through lines like, “Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord; let us acclaim the rock of our salvation. Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us joyfully sing psalms to Him.” I’m hardly joyful, I’m certainly not acclaiming anything, and we all know I can’t sing.

The psalm isn’t about the person praying it, though. It’s about the One being praised. Psalm 95 is one of the “Royal Psalms,” praising the Lord for being the King of His people. A just, merciful, and loving King. And if giving thanks and praise to Him isn’t one of the first things that pops into our heads every morning, well…shouldn’t it be?

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

September 3rd - I recently saw an ad on Facebook that appealed to me … it was for a pair of glasses that would make finding lost golf balls easier. They work – allegedly – by turning your entire field of vision blue. White objects, such as golf balls, are amplified against the blue field and are therefore easier to see, even if they’re buried in the thick stuff. The product, however, wasn’t really what grabbed my attention. What I really noticed were some of the statistics they were quoting. Assuming you play three rounds of golf a month (like I have time for that), and lose only two balls per round (I can do that on one hole), you’ll lose approximately $288 worth of golf balls a year (Callaway’s not cheap). Collectively, as a nation, we lose – and this is stunning, if you ask me - $1.2 billion worth of golf balls per year.

How accurate that is, I have no idea; as a general rule, golfers lie about their game all the time. But if you’ve played, you know how easy it often is to say, “Eh, forget it, I’ll just drop one over there.” (In the middle of the fairway, 50 yards closer to the pin, but whatever.) We don’t mind losing our possessions. We play it off like it’s no big deal – hey, you can’t slow down the pace of play on the course, right?

But why is it that when God asks us to lose something, we balk? An extra 15 minutes of prayer a day suddenly becomes too much; an hour of Eucharistic adoration is too difficult a burden to bear; confessing our sins is too humiliating … whatever it is that God wants, we seem to think the cost is too high. And we try not to pay it. In today’s Gospel, Peter tries to weasel out of paying a cost that seems too high, too. He doesn’t want to hear about how his friend and teacher has to suffer. But the cost must be paid, Jesus tells him. Obedience to the will of God is what gains one eternal life. What he asks of us needs to be paid, for our own sanctification and that of our brothers and sisters.

$1.2 billion buys an awful lot of golf balls. But you are worth so much more than that. Give to God what He is asking of you, and watch what He does in return. Holding on to everything profits us nothing.

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

August 27th - In our current cycle of Sunday readings, we more or less read Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans continuously from the 9th week of Ordinary Time until the 25th week. As well we should. Romans is Paul’s masterpiece; it is both doctrinal and pastoral; it is well-organized; he is clear with his terminology; he’s everything a teacher ought to be. And while he doesn’t address all the questions of the faith, he provides a suitable starting point for what he leaves unanswered.

This week, we get just a little piece of the letter – so small, in fact, that I think it needs to be put into context. Paul isn’t simply giving up on trying to understand God – “How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” – instead, he’s praising God for being inscrutable and unsearchable. He’s thinking of God’s mercy, which, as we know, Paul himself was a recipient of in a pretty profound way.

Saint Augustine was another who received God’s mercy. His conversion took much longer than Paul’s, and cost his mother, Saint Monica, no small amount of tears. What matters, though, is that God was merciful to him. I’ll leave you with a selection from Book X of Augustine’s Confessions. As you read, ponder two things – how has God shown His mercy towards you, and how is He calling you to a deeper sense of conversion?

From the Confessions: “Where did I find you, that I came to know you? You were not within my memory before I learned of you. Where, then, did I find you before I came to know you, if not within yourself, far above me? We come to you and go from you, but no place is involved in this process. In every place, O Truth, you are present to those who seek your help, and at one and the same time you answer all, though they seek your counsel on different matters.

You respond clearly, but not everyone hears clearly. All ask what they wish, but do not always hear the answer they wish. Your best servant is he who is intent not so much on hearing his petition answered, as rather on willing whatever he hears from you.

Late have I loved you, O beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you; now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

When once I shall be united to you with my whole being, I shall at last be free of sorrow and toil. Then my life will be alive, filled entirely with you. When you fill someone, you relieve him of his burden, but because I am not yet filled with you, I am a burden to myself. My joy when I should be weeping struggles with my sorrows when I should be rejoicing. I know not where victory lies. Woe is me! Lord, have mercy on me! My evil sorrows and good joys are at war with one another. I know not where victory lies. Woe is me! Lord, have mercy! Woe is me! I make no effort to conceal my wounds. You are my physician, I your patient. You are merciful; I stand in need of mercy.

Is not the life of man upon earth a trial? Who would want troubles and difficulties? You command us to endure them, not to love them. No person loves what he endures, though he may love the act of enduring. For even if he is happy to endure his own burden, he would still prefer that the burden not exist. I long for prosperity in times of adversity, and I fear adversity when times are good. Yet what middle ground is there between these two extremes where the life of man would be other than trial? Pity the prosperity of this world, pity it once and again, for it corrupts joy and brings the fear of adversity. Pity the adversity of this world, pity it again, then a third time; for it fills men with a longing for prosperity, and because adversity itself is hard for them to bear and can even break their endurance. Is not the life of man upon earth a trial, a continuous trial?

All my hope lies only in your great mercy.”

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

March 17, 2019

March 10, 2019

March 3, 2019

February 24, 2019

February 17, 2019

February 10, 2019

February 3, 2019

January 27, 2019

January 20, 2019

January 13, 2019

January 6, 2019

December 30, 2018

December 23, 2018

December 16, 2018

December 9, 2018

December 2, 2018

November 25, 2018

November 18, 2018

November 11, 2018

November 4, 2018

October 28, 2018

October 21, 2018

October 14, 2018

October 7, 2018

September 30, 2018

September 23, 2018

September 16, 2018

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August 26, 2018

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June 3, 2018

May 27, 2018

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April 29, 2018

April 22, 2018

April 15th, 2018

April 8th, 2018 - Divine Mercy Sunday

April 1st, 2018 - Easter

March 25, 2018

March 18, 2018

March 11, 2018

March 4, 2018

February 25, 2018

February 18, 2018

February 11, 2018

February 4, 2018

January 28, 2018

January 14, 2018

December 17, 2017

December 10, 2017

December 3, 2017

November 26, 2017

November 19, 2017

August 20th - I almost missed the publication deadline for this week’s bulletin, so I’m going to turn to an old friend to help me out this week. Ladies and gentlemen, Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI:

“Jesus’ silence [towards the Canaanite woman] may seem disconcerting, to the point that it prompted the disciples to intervene, but it was not a question of insensitivity to this woman’s sorrow. St Augustine rightly commented: “Christ showed himself indifferent to her, not in order to refuse herhis mercy but rather to inflame her desire for it” (Sermo 77, 1: PL 38, 483).

The apparent aloofness of Jesus who said: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (v. 24), did not discourage the Canaanite woman who persisted: “Lord, help me” (v. 25). And she did not even desist when she received an answer that would seem to have extinguished any hope: “it is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (v. 26). She had no wish to take anything from anyone; in her simplicity and humility a little was enough for her, crumbs sufficed, no more than a look, a kind word from the Son of God. And Jesus was struck with admiration for an answer of such great faith and said to her: “Be it done for you as you desire” (v. 28).

Dear friends, we too are called to grow in faith, to open ourselves in order to welcome God’s gift freely, to have trust and also to cry to Jesus “give us faith, help us to find the way!”. This is the way that Jesus made his disciples take, as well as the Canaanite woman and men and women of every epoch and nation and each one of us.

Faith opens us to knowing and welcoming the real identity of Jesus, his newness and oneness, his word, as a source of life, in order to live a personal relationship with him. Knowledge of the faith grows, it grows with the desire to find the way and in the end it is a gift of God who does not reveal himself to us as an abstract thing without a face or a name, because faith responds to a Person who wants to enter into a relationship of deep love with us and to involve our whole life.

For this reason our heart must undergo the experience of conversion every day, every day it must see us changing from people withdrawn into themselves to people who are open to God’s action, spiritual people (cf. 1 Cor 2:13-14), who let themselves be called into question by the Lord’s word and open their life to his Love.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us therefore nourish our faith every day with deep attention to the word of God, with the celebration of the Sacraments, with personal prayer as a “cry” to him, and with charity to our neighbour.”

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

August 13th - There is nothing fun about this week’s column. There just isn’t. But there is some important information I need to share with you all, as well as some things we all need to think and pray about.

As you may be aware, late last September, the church was robbed. After a noon Mass, an individual was able to force open the collection boxes at the votive candle racks and make off with the cash that was inside. Obviously, we have no idea exactly how much money we lost, but we can figure it to be about $200. While we did have surveillance cameras in the church, the images they captured were rather poor, and did not lead to identifying anyone. Since that time, we have updated those cameras – a wise decision, as it turns out.

We were robbed again, on Wednesday, July 26th. An individual – the same person as before – entered the church and attempted to gain access to the candle boxes. However, because of the concert that evening, we had moved our Mass to that morning, and there were people moving throughout the church, which somewhat discouraged him. The cameras show him entering the sacristy and rooting around in there, looking for something, and then going downstairs. He entered the youth room, stole a video game system and some games, and then left via one of the downstairs doors.

Northern Regional police were called once the theft was discovered, and we turned all the relevant information over to them. I have to say, the police department was been fantastic about this whole thing; they responded quickly, and have kept us informed of every relevant development throughout. We also posted a photo of the individual on social media, which led to him being identified.

His story is one that is familiar, if not too common. A knee injury led to prescription pain-killers; the prescription led to a dependency; dependency turned into an addiction. The theft was meant to help feed that addiction. After us, he also hit several other churches in the area. Officers from the Allegheny County Sheriff’s department found and arrested him on Friday, July 27th. I have just been informed that his preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 9th, which is after the deadline for this week’s bulletin; I’ll keep you informed.

So… there’s a couple things to learn from this. First, that while our community, and especially this campus, is generally very safe, it’s not immune to things. Take some simple precautions. Be sure to put your car windows up and lock your doors before coming in for Mass. Even though none of this happened during Mass, consider not leaving your purse in the pew when coming up to receive Communion. Introduce yourself to someone you don’t know (this is probably a good idea in general). Secondly, this incident shows yet again that the opioid crisis doesn’t make distinctions. It doesn’t care about your age, class, race, neighborhood, occupation, or anything else, for that matter. It can happen here, and it is happening here. We need to pray for those suffering from addiction, and especially for their families, who perhaps suffer even more. More importantly, we cannot turn our backs on these people – our brothers and sisters in Christ. They need us more than ever.

I’ll continue to keep you updated on this whole unpleasant affair as developments warrant. Until then, you keep praying.

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

August 6th - Every Sunday at noon, the Pope addresses the crowds gathered in Saint Peter’s Square to offer a brief reflection on that day’s Gospel and to pray the Angelus (or, during the Easter season, the Regina Coeli) with the people. Thanks to the proximity of the North American College, the seminary where I lived in Rome, to the Vatican, I was able to make it to the Angelus fairly often. It was always interesting to watch the crowds: the heat wouldn’t deter anyone, but rain would; February and March were definitely the slow month for tourism; September, October, April, and May were peak. And Pope Francis is a bigger draw than Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI was. With, perhaps, one exception: his final Angelus before his resignation, on February 24, 2013.

The Gospel that Sunday was also an account of the Transfiguration (though, in this case, the text was from Luke, not Matthew). And so I leave you with Pope Benedict XVI at his finest:

“We have a particularly beautiful Gospel, that of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Luke the Evangelist highlights in particular the fact that Jesus was transfigured while he was praying. Jesus experienced a profound relationship with the Father during a sort of spiritual retreat which he made on a high mountain in the company of Peter, James and John, the three disciples ever present at the moments of the Teacher's divine manifestation (Lk 5:10; 8:51; 9:28).

The Lord, who had just foretold his death and Resurrection (9:22), granted the disciples a foretaste of his glory. And the heavenly Father’s voice rang out in the Transfiguration, as in the baptism: ‘this is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ (9:35). Moreover the presence of Moses and Elijah, who represent the Law and the Prophets of the Old Covenant, is particularly significant: the whole history of the Covenant is oriented to him, Christ, who makes a new “exodus” (9:31), not toward the promised land, as in the time of Moses, but toward Heaven.

Peter’s words ‘Master, it is well that we are here’ represent the impossible attempt to put this mystical experience on hold. St Augustine commented: ‘[Peter]... on the mountain... had Christ as the food of his soul. Why should he have to go down to return to his hard work and sorrows while up there he was filled with sentiments of holy love for God and which thus inspired in him a holy conduct?’ (Sermon 78,3: pl 38, 491).

In meditating on this passage of the Gospel, we can learn a very important lesson from it: first of all, the primacy of prayer, without which the entire commitment to the apostolate and to charity is reduced to activism. In Lent we learn to give the right time to prayer, both personal and of the community, which gives rest to our spiritual life. Moreover, prayer does not mean isolating oneself from the world and from its contradictions, as Peter wanted to do on Mount Tabor; rather, prayer leads back to the journey and to action. “The Christian life”, I wrote in my Message for this Lent, ‘consists in continuously scaling the mountain to meet God and then coming back down, bearing the love and strength drawn from him, so as to serve our brothers and sisters with God’s own love’” (n. 3)

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

July 30th - I’d like to be able to tell you that by the time you read this, I will have finally finished unpacking and moving in to the rectory. But let’s not kid ourselves … I probably haven’t. All the important stuff got unpacked within the first few days – the Kuerig machine, the clothes, the coffee cups, the books, did I mention the coffee … now it’s just a couple of random boxes of stuff. Every time I look at them I get discouraged, because I know it’s a disorganized mess and I have no one to blame but myself. I just threw stuff from my desk and my closets into boxes without really looking at it; the goal was just to get done and get moved. Obviously, it wasn’t important if I haven’t needed it in the last three weeks; do I even need it at all?

Clearly, I lacked wisdom in the whole moving process. I made no effort to understand or discern what was important; I just acted. In today’s Gospel, Jesus compares someone who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven to the head of a household who brings in from his storeroom both the new and the old. The householder understands the value of each thing, and knows what new things should be used, and what should be allowed to age, and what old things should be used now, and what others should continue to be stored.

It’s one thing to be able to do that with our stuff; it’s quite another to be able to do that with our lives. Do we tend to retain those instances of past failings and sins? Why do we persecute ourselves in this way? God has given us the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation to rid ourselves of those things that no longer have value so that we can move forward. Similarly, do we recognize and give thanks for the gifts and talents that God has given us? More importantly, do we use them for our own betterment and for that of our brothers and sisters?

Discerning these things takes wisdom. There’s really one place to get it: the same place that Solomon did –through prayer.

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

July 23rd - I always thought that this weekend’s parable of the weeds and the wheat was pretty straightforward and easy to understand – especially since Jesus explains it to the disciples in the end. (I mean, come on. How much easier does He have to make it for us?) Turns out,though, that there is a hidden complexity to the story, and it starts with the word “weeds”.

According to some translations of Saint Matthew’s text, Jesus has a very specific weed in mind when Heuses this parable: He’s talking about a plant commonly called darnel, or, for the scientifically minded, Lolium temulentum. I had no idea what that is, either, so I had to resort to looking it up on Wikipedia. It seems that while darnel isn’t much of an issue now, it used to be a serious nuisance for wheat farmers. The problem was that darnel and wheat look almost exactly the same until very late in the growing stage, so often, farmers wouldn’t even realize their crop was infested. Darnel is edible, but has a tendency to be infected by a certain type of fungus…and eating the infected plant can cause anything from a drunken nausea to death.

Sort of puts pulling weeds in the garden into perspective, doesn’t it? Well, what about the weeds in our souls? Just like darnel doesn’t seem too bad until it’s too late, often our small, “innocent” vices don’t seem like any trouble … until they are. Today, Jesus is inviting us to take some extra time (perhaps at Adoration?) and really examine our lives to see how well we’re doing at conforming to the Gospel and how much we resonate Christ in the world. And should we find some weeds there, let’s not wait for harvest time – let’s get to Confession and get them taken care of now.

Oremus pro invicem!

Fr. Mike

P.S.: Thanks for the warm welcome back to the parish! It’s quickly feeling like home again. Please bear with me as I work on learning names … keep introducing yourselves, and please don’t be offended at how often I’ll forget your name. I’ll get it right, eventually. Maybe. Hopefully …

July 16th - Well, the shepherd’s voice sounds a little bit different these days. I’ll leave it to you to decide which one of us has the more melodic voice (hint: it’s not me.)

For those of you whom I haven’t met yet, or for those that don’t remember me all that well, allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Father Michael (Mike) Conway, and I have been a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh for three years. I grew up in the now-defunct St. Norbert Parish in Pittsburgh’s Overbrook neighborhood. I graduated from Seton-LaSalle High School and then attended Wheeling Jesuit University, where I earned a BA in history. After college, I worked in the financial world for a while, first at National City Mortgage as an auditor, and then briefly at BNY Mellon as a trust associate. In 2008, I came to my senses and entered St. Paul Seminary. In 2010, I graduated with my MA in philosophy from Duquesne and was assigned for theological studies in Rome. I lived at the Pontifical North American College and studied at the Gregorian University, earning the STB degree. During those summer breaks, I would come home to the US to work here at St. Richard Parish. I was ordained a deacon in October of 2013 at St. Peter’s Basilica and then began a program of studies at the Angelicum, in Rome, in dogmatic theology. I was ordained a priest in June of 2014; my first priestly assignment was to serve here as parochial vicar. I completed my STL degree in June of 2015, and returned home (permanently, I hope). For the last two years, I was the parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Parish in Washington, PA, until the Bishop gave me the incredible opportunity to return to St. Richard Parish.

I’m absolutely thrilled to be home, and I’m excited to find out what the Lord is going to do next with us. I only ask for your prayers and your patience … especially when it comes to learning names. Please know that I have been praying for you since I learned I was coming back here … and now I can’t wait to start serving you again as your priest.

As I write this final edition of the Shepherd’s Voice, I am sitting amongst my life packed in boxes and bins ready to be moved to my new dwelling place. Much is on my mind … the hundreds of babies I have baptized and the hundreds of kids whom I was given the gift to hear their first confession and give their First Communion. I am thinking of the countless confessions I have heard and the many couples I have witnessed as they entered into married life. In my heart I hold the numerous brothers and sisters Ihave been privileged to pray into the arms of God, including my own dear mother. Also, I am thinking about the many who I received into the Church through RCIA as they were baptized, made their profession of faith, were Confirmed and received Holy Communion. For these I give praise to God the Father, Lord of heaven and earth.

In the recesses of my heart are the countless meetings with the Pastoral Council and Finance Council. I am thankful to these groups for helping me to shepherd God’s holy people. I am reflecting on the many organizations who are the fingers of Christ reaching out to so many of the parish, from the youngest to the oldest of our parish family. Especially, I am thinking about the poorest of the poor from those in our own community to the children and Sisters of Saint Francis at the Hogar in Patzun, Guatemala. For these I give praise to God the Father, Lord of heaven and earth.

How can I not think about the youth to whom I have desired so much. These youth come in many ages - the young at hearts, who gave me witness of perseverance in living life to the fullest against many trials and adversity. When I think of the younger youth, I remember being a Panda bear or a great explorer during Vacation Bible School, visiting faith formation classes and area Catholic schools for Holy Mass, and being involved with the Edge and Lifeteen Youth Ministry. It has been often said that I only care about the youth. While this is certainly not true, I have desired to help you understand God Matters. By feeding your soul and literally your body, I pray that you will come to know what my older kids already know. Our faith is real, Jesus is Lord and you are made in His image and likeness. For you I give praise to God the Father, Lord of heaven and earth.

I give special praise and thanks to God the Father, Lord of heaven and earth for the opportunity to walk with 10 men as they discerned and worked towards priesthood. What a gift it has been to walk with them. While I thought I was teaching them, I in turn was taught by them, having my own priesthood strengthened. For them I give thanks and praise to God.

Packed into my life’s suitcase is the gift that it has been to minister alongside some of the most talented and loving people in the diocese - the Parish Staff along with Deacon Gary. From our planning meetings to staff lunches, the laughter and tears we have experienced together are memories I will not soon forget. The staff present and the staff past, have put up with me and supported me and lifted me to be a better priest and pastor. For you I give special praise and thanks to God the Father, Lord of heaven and earth.

One of the many memories I cherish most, is the many liturgies for ordinary time, holy days and feast days. This is my favorite memory that I have packed into my heart. Our worship defines who we are and is the only way to make each day great and reminds us that we are loved! For those sacred moments, I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.

As I leave you, my parish family, please know you are loved by a God who just wants the best for you through His Son. You are loved, too, by me, who has had the joy to be your Spiritual Father for these years. May we pray for one another and meet each other in our thoughts as we gather each day at the Altar.

Make it a great day and know you are always loved,Fr. Tom

If you think about it, drop me a line once in a while and let me know how you are doing. My new address is:Saint Paul Seminary2900 Noblestown RoadPittsburgh, PA 15205Office 412-456-3048Email: tsparacino@diopitt.org

July 2nd - As I sit down to write this reflection, I am doing so on our last evening in Beijing, China. While I have been blessed to experience so much in this far eastern land, everything pales in comparison to the ordination of our brother Fr. Panji Ren and his classmates. The Gospel acclamation for this Sunday says, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”(1Peter 2:9). Panji and his classmates are called to the light of the resurrected and spread the good news. While not all of us are ordained ministers, we are all called out of darkness to be ministers of Good News. To shout from the mountain tops Jesus is Lord. During our stay in Beijing, we visited the Great Wall. It seemed as though we were on top of the world. I couldn’t help myself (see picture below). I shouted my “Alleluia’s” and “Praise the Lord” as loud as I could. We must do the same using words only when needed. As we walked around Beijing, I noticed many walled off communities. While there is one Great Wall, there are also walls we set up between neighbors ... walls that keep people out and even walls which cause us loneliness.

Remember, you can do all things in Christ who strengthens you.Fr. Tom

June 25th - For two weeks now we have been back in Ordinary time. In the ordinary time of worship, our God calls. He calls us to the Altar to anoint us in His divine grace. He calls us to stop whispering and proclaim from the mountain tops the Good News.

In a particular way many are called to serve Christ and His church as priests, deacons, brothers and sisters in religious and consecrated life. This weekend five men lay their lives down to be ordained priests of the Lord Jesus Christ for service to the Church of Pittsburgh. Our brother, Deacon Panji, (by the time you read this he will be Father Panji) will be ordained also for service to Christ and His church in Beijing, China. And God continues to call.

The Gospel acclamation says: “The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord; and you also will testify.” ( John 15:26-27). While God calls all of us to testify, many are called to the Altar. Please pray for vocations, talk to your son, grandson, nephew and/or friend about the priesthood. Without priests, we cannot have the Eucharist we celebrated last week. Without the Eucharist, our lives will remain ordinary. We are called to be more than ordinary, we are called to be extraordinary.

We encourage our youth to be engineers, doctors, lawyers and teachers. Encourage a life of service to Christ and His Church. For me the priesthood, consecrated life, is an ordinary man or woman called out of the ordinary to do extraordinary work by being fearless in laying down one’s life for others. Won’t you answer the call, or help others to answer the call, to stop whispering and start proclaiming the Good News with our lives.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

June 18th - This week I share with you the words of Pope Francis from Sunday, June 22, 2014:

“Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ is being celebrated this Sunday in Italy and in many other Countries, often using the Latin terms — Corpus Domini or Corpus Christi. The ecclesial community gathers around the Eucharist to adore the most precious treasure that Jesus left us.

The Gospel of John presents the discourse on the “bread of life”, held by Jesus in the Synagogue of Capernaum, in which he affirms, “I am the living bread come down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn 6:51). Jesus underlines that he has not come into this world to give something, but to give himself, his life, as nourishment for those who have faith in Him. This our communion with the Lord obliges us, his disciples, to imitate him, making our existence, through our behavior, bread broken for others, as the Teacher has broken the bread that is truly his flesh. Instead, this means for us generous conduct towards our neighbor thereby demonstrating the attitude of giving life for others.

Every time that we participate in Holy Mass and we are nourished by the Body of Christ, the presence of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit acts in us, shaping our hearts, communicating an interior disposition to us that translates into conduct according to the Gospel. Above all, docility to the Word of God, then fraternity amongst ourselves, the courage of Christian witness, creative charity, the capacity to give hope to the disheartened, to welcome the excluded. In this way the Eucharist fosters a mature Christian lifestyle. The charity of Christ, welcomed with an open heart, changes us, transforms us, renders us capable of loving not according to human measure, always limited, but according to the measure of God. And what is the measure of God? Without measure! The measure of God is without measure. Everything! Everything! Everything! It’s impossible to measure the love of God: it is without measure! And so we become capable of loving even those who do not love us: and this is not easy. To love someone who doesn’t love us…. It’s not easy! Because if we know that a person doesn’t like us, then we also tend to bear ill will. But no! We must love even someone who doesn’t love us! Opposing evil with good, with pardon, with sharing, with welcome. Thanks to Jesus and to his Spirit, even our life becomes “bread broken” for our brothers. And living like this we discover true joy! The joy of making of oneself a gift, of reciprocating the great gift that we have first received, without merit of our own. This is beautiful: our life is made a gift! This is to imitate Jesus. I wish to remind you of these two things. First: the measure of God’s love is love without measure. Is this clear? And our life, with the love of Jesus, received in the Eucharist, is made a gift. As was the life of Jesus. Don’t forget these two things: the measure of the love of God is love without measure. And following Jesus, we, with the Eucharist, make of our life a gift.

Jesus, Bread of eternal life, came down from heaven and was made flesh thanks to the faith of Mary Most Holy. After having borne him with ineffable love in herself, she followed him faithfully unto the Cross and to the resurrection. Let us ask Our Lady to help us rediscover the beauty of the Eucharist, to make it the centre of our life, especially at Sunday Mass and in adoration.”

Have a great week, and know that you are lovedFr. Tom

June 11th - As you read this article, 144 missionaries are preparing their hearts and hands to serve the people in Mullens, West Virginia during the annual Mission Trip. Seven missionaries are also packing as much love and joy in their hearts to travel to Patzun, Guatemala to serve the childrenand Sisters at the Orphanage. Please lift them in prayer during the next ten days. For us, these brothers and sisters are a perfect example of the Blessed Trinity. They will share the love of the Father by caring for God’s poor children. They will be the hands and feet of Jesus the Son, and they will do so through the fullness of the heart, the love of the father and son. We can do the same in our own homes, towns and work places. We do this by remembering we have the pleasure to live in the love of three persons in one God by our baptism. While the Holy Trinity is a mystery, it is a mystery of love to be shared. See the writing to the right by Pope Francis for further reflection.

With all of the Commencement exercises completed around the area, I would like to wish all the graduates from high school, colleges and universities God’s blessings and congratulations. Remember much about life is a mystery to be lived in love. Work harder at working to live rather than living to work. Enjoy God’s creation around you, and know that you are loved.

Today, Sunday, June 11, marks Deacon Gary’s 6th Anniversary of ordination to the Diaconate. Last Tuesday, June 6, marked my own 19th anniversary of ordination to the Priesthood. If I may speak for Deacon Gary and in my own name, it is only through the power of the love of the Father and Son and through the grace of the Holy Spirit that we are messengers of the Gospel and servants of the Altar. You, too, are called to be messengers and servants by living in the mystery of God’s love.

So, while we all like a good mystery, the best mystery of all is the one which we are baptized into. The mystery we live in is not one to be solved, but to be lived. So wherever you find yourself, on a mission trip, in a foreign country, starting a new chapter of life, an ordained minister, or preparing for a new ministry assignment, know you are immersed in the love of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

June 4th - Pentecost Sunday - Veni, Sancte Spiritus. Veni, Sanchez Spiritus. Come, Holy Spirit, Come! “On our dryness pour your dew...Bend the stubborn heart and will; Melt the frozen, warm the chill...”. While so much can be said about the Holy Spirit and Pentecost, these words move my heart. After 90days of walking through the dryness of Lent and the life giving water of Easter, we come to the feast which gave birth to the Church and continues to animate us to live life to the full in Jesus Christ. One can imagine the grace upon each of us like the dew falls. This grace leads to a softening of the heart to live not our will but His will.

The Holy Spirit which came upon the followers of Christ is the same Holy Spirit we call upon today. The Holy Spirit is the giver of life. It is the way our God communicates to us his beautiful creations, his love and invitation to eternal life. Today we celebrate that we have never been, nor will we be, left alone to wander, but instead to live in the wonder and awe in His presence. Our prayer should always be Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come and refresh us. Come and sanctify us. Come and guide us. Come and be with us all our days.

Allow yourself to enjoy the gift of the Holy Spirit. Allow Him to warm your frozen heart to let it go. Use the beautiful traditional prayer Veni, Sancte Spiritus, found to the right, to call down the Holy Spirit each day in your prayers.

Make it a great week, live life fully in the Spirit,Fr. Tom

May 28th - Our ways are not always God’s ways. Psalm 27 reminds us “I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living” (vs 13). The psalmist ends in vs 14 “Wait for the LORD, take courage;be stouthearted, wait for the LORD!”

Often in my own journey I wonder what God’s plan is for my life. I think about who I will meet, what I will encounter and maybe even how my story will end, meaning what will I have accomplished. One thing that is clear is that “I believe.” I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord. But sometimes it is hard to see the good things, because our ways are not always His ways. Yet, when we surrender to God, he will do everything for you, (us).

This is something I try to live, but it is hard. When Bishop Zubik asked me to consider and pray about a new ministry as Rector of Saint Paul Seminary, I must admit my first thought was you. “Absolutely not. I love my family. I cannot, will not, leave them. Actually Lord, I need them more than they need me.” But alas, His response in a nutshell, after a few arguments, God challenging me, me pouting a bit, (yes priests pout too), and me saying “Lord if you want this then, you do it through me, I trust in you.” A few days ago Deacon Gary and I were texting, as I shared my uncertainty, and struggle to fully surrender (so much for practicing what I preach). He said, “Jesus I trust in you! How much that takes of us as an act of surrender. But, that is what it takes. Total surrender. How difficult that is for us sometimes.”

So on Monday, July 10, I will begin a new chapter of ministry in the formation of future priests as Rector of Saint Paul Seminary and Director of Pre-Ordination Formation for the Diocese. Why did I say yes you might ask yourself? Like I said last week in my announcement, when you lay your life down literally for Christ at Ordination, you must surrender all. If the Lord wills, then so be it and who am I to stand in the way? So, not of my plan, but at the Bishop’s request by the movement of the Holy Spirit, because this is the only way, I go, (with a very heavy tearful heart).

I do know one thing for these almost seven years, I have “gazed on the Beauty of the Lord” (vs 4). More about that in future writings. For now let us continue to pray together and walk together to “see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.”

Make it a great day and know you’re loved!Fr. Tom

May 21st - Reflecting on the 100th Anniversary of Our Lady visiting the children of Fatima last week, I continue to be struck to the heart by the simple message, “Return to Jesus.” I would like to share part of Pope Francis’ homily for the anniversary with you.

“[There] appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the sun”. So the seer of Patmos tells us in the Book of Revelation (12:1), adding that she was about to give birth to a son. Then, in the Gospel, we hear Jesus say to his disciple, “Here is your mother” (Jn 19:27). We have a Mother! ‘So beautiful a Lady’, as the seers of Fatima said to one another as they returned home on that blessed day of 13 May a hundred years ago. That evening, Jacinta could not restrain herself and told the secret to her mother: ‘Today I saw Our Lady’. They had seen the Mother of Heaven. Many others sought to share that vision, but … they did not see her. The Virgin Mother did not come here so that we could see her. We will have all eternity for that, provided, of course, that we go to heaven.

Our Lady foretold, and warned us about, a way of life that is godless and indeed profanes God in his creatures. Such a life – frequently proposed and imposed – risks leading to hell. Mary came to remind us that God’s light dwells within us and protects us, for, as we heard in the first reading, ‘the child [of the woman] was snatched away and taken to God’ (Rev 12:5). In Lucia’s account, the three chosen children found themselves surrounded by God’s light as it radiated from Our Lady. She enveloped them in the mantle of Light that God had given her. According to the belief and experience of many pilgrims, if not of all, Fatima is more than anything this mantle of Light that protects us, here as in almost no other place on earth. We need but to take refuge under the protection of the Virgin Mary and to ask her, as the Salve Regina teaches: ‘show unto us… Jesus.’”

Return to Jesus. Ask Our Lady to help you. Stay close to her and she will help you see Him.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

May 14th - Since today is Mother’s Day, I thought I would reflect on our Heavenly Mom, Mary, Mother of the us all. This weekend we honor our Moms, both on earth and in heaven. We give thanks to God for the gift of these women who, along with our Dads, gave us life. We do so in this month of May when we honor Mary, who was a model for all Moms. Interestingly enough, recently Kim Kardashian, in her desire to bring attention to herself, turned towards Our Lady, the most beautiful woman to ever walk the earth, to try and put her image in the place of the Immaculate Mary. Well I do not want to judge, but sorry Kim, you are no Virgin Mary nor do you get to choose to be our role model and mother. God chose Mary to be our Mother who cares for us and shows us the way to Jesus ... the way filled with no self-obsessed images of ourselves, but the image of sacrificial love. This is why we honor Mothers today, because they give of themselves from the moment of bringing us into the world.

Yesterday was the centennial of the Virgin Mary appearing to the three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. Our Lady appeared to point Jacinta, Francesco, and Lucia and the world to God’s mercy. She taught us all to stay close to Jesus through the mysteries of the rosary, the need to go to confession to be cleansed to further our conversion of mind and heart, and to receive the Eucharist. What she taught us and continues to teach us, is reliance on God and less on ourselves; to consecrate our lives to Jesus and to reflect the image of God’s mercy, not promote our own image. Let us use the Blessed Mother as real role model and guide to Jesus.

Blessings to all Moms on this Mother’s Day. May we all always hold onto our Blessed Mother’s apron strings, trusting that she will guide us to Jesus.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

May 7th - Today is the 54th World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Pope Francis reflects in his message for today “on the missionarydimension of our Christian calling. Those who are drawn by God’s voice and determined to follow Jesus soon discover within themselves an irrepressible desire to bring the Good News to their brothers and sisters through proclamation and the service of charity. All Christians are called to be missionaries of the Gospel! As disciples, we do not receive the gift of God’s love for our personal consolation, nor are we called to promote ourselves, or a business concern. We are simply men and women touched and transformed by the joy of God’s love, who cannot keep this experience just to ourselves. For ‘the Gospel joy which enlivens the community of disciples is a missionary joy (Evangelii Gaudium, 21).’” He goes on to say, “Commitment to mission is not something added on to the Christian life as a kind of decoration, but is instead an essential element of faith itself. A relationship with the Lord entails being sent out into the world as prophets of his word and witnesses of his love.”

As we move through the On Mission process to be the Church Alive, we must continue to encourage men and women to explore a call to serve the church as priests as well as brothers and sisters in the consecrated life. I encourage you reading this article right now to have that conversation with your son or daughter, grandson or granddaughter, niece or nephew, or that person you see at Holy Mass who strikes you as having the qualities of someone who would make a good priest or religious, and deacons. I have told you my story ... it took me 14 years to finally hear the Lord clearly call me to priesthood. It was through the encouragement and affirmation of those around me that I listened and responded. Pope Francis ends his message “Mary Most Holy, the Mother of our Saviour, had the courage to embrace this ideal, placing her youth and her enthusiasm in God’s hands. Through her intercession, may we be granted that same openness of heart, that same readiness to respond, ‘Here I am’, to the Lord’s call, and that same joy in setting out (cf. Lk 1:39), like her, to proclaim him to the whole world.”

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

April 30th - As we enter the third week of Easter, we are called to live a new life every day. Our new clothes of resurrection are for life. Back in thelate ‘70s when platform shoes were in (I know they are back in style and I am showing my age), I wanted a pair for Easter. Mom and Dad always got us new shoes for Easter. I remember going shopping with Mom and finding the perfect pair. The trouble was, they were a size too small. I stuffed my foot in them and walked around the store. I remember saying, “These are perfect”. It didn’t matter that those perfect shoes were cutting off my circulation. That Easter I almost fainted on the altar several times as I served Holy Mass, just because I wanted what I thought would make me cool.

The new life that Jesus gives us at His resurrection is what makes us cool. Our resurrection clothes are clothes of new life and are to be lived in joy and not cut off life’s wants and desires. My platform shoes lasted just a couple of weeks until they made their way to the back of my closet and ultimately to the thrift store. Don’t allow your excitement of the resurrection to go that same way. Our resurrection clothes are a perfect fit, because God knows our size. Don’t allow the excitement of the resurrection to just pass. Live it and encounter it everyday, like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in today’s Gospel of Luke 24:13-35. Just keep your eyes open.

“What made the holy apostles and martyrs endure fierce agony and bitter torments, except faith, and especially faith in the resurrection? What is it that today makes true followers of Christ cast luxuries aside, leave pleasures behind, and endure difficulties and pain? It is living faith that expresses itself through love. It is this that makes us put aside the goods of the present in the hope of future goods. It is because of faith that we exchange the present for the future.” (From a Eulogy for Saint Fidelis, Priest and Martyr)

We have five weeks of the Season of Easter remaining and the rest of our lives to share in the joy of the Resurrection ... actually all eternity. Wear your new Easter clothes and live the joy. Live the fullness of new life in Christ, now and forever. Christ is Risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!! Indeed He is risen, Alleluia, Alleuia!!

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

April 23rd - Divine Mercy Sunday - This week I would like to bring several items to your attention:

· This weekend we bid Godspeed to our brother, Deacon Panji Ren. While this is his last official weekend in the parish, Deacon Panji will be in and out the next couple of weeks for First Communions and our parish feast day celebration in May. Deacon Panji came to our parish family in September a student, he leaves us as a life long brother. Deacon Panji will be ordained to the priesthood on Saturday, June 24 in Beijing. God willing, I will be blessed to be in attendance along with other members of our parish family to support our brother. A special Holy Hour is planned here at St. Richard Church on the evening of Friday, June 23 at 10:00 pm, the exact time Deacon Panji will be ordained (our time). More information will be forth coming. I thank Deacon Panji for his presence here in the parish. He has brought a richness of wisdom of faith and joy to all of us. Personally, I have benefited by his gift of preaching God’s word and joy of loving God’s people. Please pray for Deacon Panji and his classmates who will be ordained. And pray also for many more young men to respond to God’s call to a life of service to the priesthood of Jesus Christ.

· Speaking of call ... do you know someone in whom you see the qualities of a priest? Tell them. Pray for them. Let me know their name and I, too, will pray. We ask our kids to consider doing many occupations in their life and go the extra mile to involve them to be the very best in everything. Why not ask them to consider a call to the priesthood of Jesus Christ?

· For the next few weeks at the 5:00 pm and 12:00 noon Masses, 90 second grade students will receive their First Communion. Please pray for them and their parents.

· On Wednesday, May 10 we celebrate our Patron Saint Richard during a Eucharistic Day. Fr. Tom Kunz will be the celebrant and homilist for Solemn Evening Prayer and Benediction. Several priests will join us. This is a bit of a precursor to our 25th Anniversary celebration coming this fall. See the full page flyer in this bulletin.

· There is a special gathering on suicide Wednesday, May 3 put on by Samaritan Counseling Center in Butler. Please see the flyer in today’s bulletin for more information about the all day event.

· The next World Youth Day gathering will be January 2019 in Panama. There is an informational meeting today at1:30 pm in the Social Hall.

· Isn’t it time you commit to spending an hour with Jesus every week? See the display in the narthex.

· Life in the Spirit will begin Tuesday, May 2. Prepare for Pentecost, learn what it is to live life in the Spirit. See the flyer in today’s bulletin for details.

Let us continue to live in the bright light of the resurrection and rejoice in Jesus Christ the risen Lord. May we embrace the grace to profess Jesus My Lord and God!

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

April 9th - There is an old spiritual hymn called Blessed Assurance which was written in 1873 by Francis J. Crosby. The hymn reflects Mr. Crosby’s journey of faith, based on Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The lyrics, found at the bottom of this writing, are based on Hebrews 10:22, “...let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

You and I enter into the holiest week of the year. It is a week that gives meaning to Christmas and the reason we do what we do on Sunday. This week we will not only mark these days Holy because it is His (Jesus’) story, but our story as well. Our story has a beginning, a middle and end … Jesus. The Blessed Assurance is that we are sprinkled with the refreshing pure blood of the Lamb (Jesus) who saves. During these holy days we are being called to stop living the mundane everyday life that we have all slipped into, the same old story, and live the extraordinary story that we are called to share … Jesus.

I pray that you will make every effort to come and encounter Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior in a very real way. Come be embraced by the true heart of the Father’s love-as Jesus washes your feet and gives you the food of the angels in the Eucharist. Come be made clean, as blood and water washes over us from His side as he is enthroned on the Cross. Come and do not be amazed, but have your faith renewed as Jesus is found not dead in the tomb, but Alive. Let us make Jesus our story and His passion, death and resurrection our song.

Make it a great week. Let Him make it a Holy Week,Fr. Tom

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!Heir of salvation, purchase of God,Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain:This is my story, this is my song,Praising my Savior all the day long;This is my story, this is my song,Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;Angels, descending, bring from aboveEchoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest,I in my Savior am happy and blest,Watching and waiting, looking above,Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Francis J. Crosby, 1873

April 2nd - Come out and break into life in the resurrection. To do this we must listen for Jesus who calls to us, “Come out!” Come away from the death of sin.

The Gospel of this Fifth Sunday of Lent tells us of the resurrection of Lazarus. It is the culmination of the miraculous “signs” worked by Jesus: this act is too great, too clearly divine to be tolerated by the high priests,who, learning of the fact, decided to kill Jesus (cf. Jn 11:53).

Lazarus had already been dead four days, before Jesus arrived; and what he said to the sisters Martha and Mary is engraved forever in the memory of the Christian community. Jesus speaks like this: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (Jn 11:25, 26). With this word of the Lord we believe that the life of whoever believes in Jesus and follows his Commandment after death will be transformed into new life, full and immortal. As Jesus is resurrected with his own body, though he does not return to an earthly life, so too will we be raised with our bodies which will have been transfigured into glorified bodies. He expects us with the Father, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, who raised him, he will also raise those who are united to him.

Before the sealed tomb of his friend Lazarus, Jesus “cried with a loud voice: ‘Lazarus, come out!’. And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth” (vv. 43-44). This cry is an imperative to all men, because we are all marked by death, all of us; it is the voice of the One who is master of life and wants that all we all may “have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). Christ is not resigned to the tombs that we have built for ourselves with our choice for evil and death, with our errors, with out sins. He is not resigned to this! He invites us, almost orders us, to come out of the tomb in which our sins have buried us. He calls us insistently to come out of the darkness of that prison in which we are enclosed, content with a false, selfish and mediocre life. “Come out!”, he says to us, “Come out!”. It is an invitation to true freedom, to allow ourselves to be seized by these words of Jesus who repeats them to each one of us today. It is an invitation to let ourselves be freed from the “bandages”, from the bandages of pride. For pride makes of us slaves, slaves to ourselves, slaves to so many idols, so many things. Our resurrection begins here: when we decide to obey Jesus’ command by coming out into the light, into life; when the mask falls from our face — we are frequently masked by sin, the mask must fall off! — and we find again the courage of our original face, created in the image and likeness of God.

Jesus’ act of raising Lazarus shows the extent to which the power of God’s grace can go, and, thus, the extent of our conversion, our transformation. Listen carefully: there is no limit to the divine mercy offered to everyone! There is no limit to divine mercy which is offered to everyone! Remember this sentence. And we can all say it together: “there is no limit to divine mercy which is offered to all people!”. Let us say it together: “There is no limit to divine mercy which is offered to everyone!”. The Lord is always ready to remove the tombstone of our sins, which keeping us apart from him, the light of the living.

Pope Francis, Rome 2014Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

March 26th - Surely we are not also blind, are we?”

Are we blind to God's presence? His works? His mercy? These powerful questions come at the end of John 9:1-41, in the healing ofthe blind man. This is something to take time to meditate on during our prayer time ... that the Lord restores our sight to truly see Him for who he is, Savior and Lord.

Many years ago my Aunt Babe, one of my mom’s sisters, was diagnosed with cervical cancer. It was the summer of 1996. As she dealt with all the ups and downs of bearing the cross of cancer, her prayer was to live long enough to see her brother retire and me be ordained to the priesthood. During her 10 hour operation, recovery and chemo treatment that followed, there were many ups and downs. At some of her lowest points, my aunt would often say, “this family does not receive miracles.” Because her father (my grandfather) and my sister both died from the effects of cancer. It was hard for her to see the working of God through the toughness of her journey. She was blinded by her own pain, even with the small victories. At one point the surgeon and her oncologist felt confident that between the operation to remove the cancer and the chemo, she was clean of cancer. At least for a short time. While she battled with cancer, she was also able to enjoy life too. Yet, “this family doesn’t get miracles” loomed since there was always a threat of the cancer returning, and returning even more aggressively than before. Two years later, in July 1998, my Aunt Babe’s life came to an end on earth, from the effects of cancer. A few months later, her brother retired and seven weeks after that I was ordained a priest.

Sometimes we are blind to the presence of God and are unable to see His work, His daily miracles happening around us. Those small victories of being able to get out of bed to face another day, the ability to overcome an obstacle in our way, even something as small as learning to tie a shoelace as a child or as an older person after suffering a stroke are sometimes overlooked. But, I think even more, we are blind to seeing Jesus because of our hard heart. Today is Laetare Sunday, praise Sunday. Allow the Lord to soften your heart to see the everyday miracles of His work in your life. Sometimes it is hard. Look a little closer. In the end, we all receive miracles of grace everyday, we just need to ask Jesus to open our eyes to see Him more clearly.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

PS: See you at the Parish Mission on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings at 7:00 pm. Come and bring a friend!

PSS: See you at the Seder Meal this Thursday. Don’t forget to RSVP. This a wonderful evening for parents and teens to attend together

March 19th - I found the following words to be thought provoking. I hope you enjoy them too.

“Today’s Gospel presents Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman in Sicar, near anold well where the woman went to draw water daily. That day, she found Jesus seated, ‘wearied as he was with his journey’ (Jn 4:6). He immediately says to her: ‘Give me a drink’ (v. 7). In this way he overcomes the barriers of hostility that existed between Jews and Samaritans and breaks the mold of prejudice against women. This simple request from Jesus is the start of a frank dialogue, through which he enters with great delicacy into the interior world of a person to whom, according to social norms, he should not have spoken. But Jesus does! Jesus is not afraid. When Jesus sees a person he goes ahead, because he loves. He loves us all. He never hesitates before a person out of prejudice. Jesus sets her own situation before her, not by judging her but by making her feel worthy, acknowledged, and thus arousing in her the desire to go beyond the daily routine.

Jesus’ thirst was not so much for water, but for the encounter with a parched soul. Jesus needed to encounter the Samaritan woman in order to open her heart: he asks for a drink so as to bring to light her own thirst. The woman is moved by this encounter: she asks Jesus several profound questions that we all carry within but often ignore. We, too, have many questions to ask, but we don’t have the courage to ask Jesus! Lent, dear brothers and sisters, is the opportune time to look within ourselves, to understand our truest spiritual needs, and to ask the Lord’s help in prayer. The example of the Samaritan woman invites us to exclaim: ‘Jesus, give me a drink that will quench my thirst forever’.”Pope Francis Angelis AddressMarch 2014-Rome

As we reach this second Sunday of Lent, we encounter Jesus in His Transfiguration. Heascends the mountain in prayer to descend and continue His mission. In our faith journey, often we become lethargic or sluggish and indifferent. This comes from a lack of mountain top experiences due to many things in life getting in the way. In the seminary at St. Vincent, my classmates and I would often go on a hike in one of the state parks nearby to get recharged. We would ascend a small mountain and spend time taking in the magnificence of God. We would descend the mountain refreshed, renewed and ready to go.

Lent is our mountain. We ascend it to be refreshed and renewed, to reinvigorate and deepen our relationship with Jesus. While on the mountain, Jesus allows us to see His magnificence, to wake us up from sleep or even more, from the fear of the unknown, so we can fully commit to following and loving Him with all our mind, heart, soul and strength. We ascend the mountain to overcome the temptation to run away because it’s hard to remain faithful. On the mountain He shows us His glory, to enable us to persevere. We descend to go to Jerusalem, Calvary, the empty tomb and beyond.

As followers of Jesus, we become lethargic when the world around us seems to just keep spiraling out of control. Jesus' Transfiguration is for us to see that there can be so much more to our lives when we stumble through our spiritual lethargy. This week go away with Jesus to the mountain in your prayer. See His magnificence and reawaken to a new life in Him. Then get up and descend the mountain and continue your mission for Him.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

PS I invite you, as always, to ascend the mountain during Adoration on Fridays and to be transformed in your encounter with Jesus so you can descend and live in Him.

March 5th - On this first Sunday of our Lenten journey back to God, please enjoy these words of Pope Francis given to the Universal Church during the Angelus Prayer on 9 March 2014.

“Each year, the Gospel of the First Sunday of Lent sets before us the narrative of the temptation of Jesus, when the Holy Spirit, having descended upon him after his Baptism in the Jordan, prompts him to confront Satan openly in the desert for 40 days, before beginning his public ministry.

The tempter seeks to divert Jesus from the Father’s plan, that is, from the way of sacrifice, of the love that offers itself in expiation, to make him take an easier path, one of success and power. The duel between Jesus and Satan takes place through strong quotations from Sacred Scripture. The devil, in fact, to divert Jesus from the way of the cross, sets before him false messianic hopes: economic well-being, indicated by the ability to turn stones into bread; a dramatic and miraculous style, with the idea of throwing himself down from the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem and being saved by angels; and lastly, a shortcut to power and dominion, in exchange for an act of adoration to Satan. These are the three groups of temptations: and we, too, know them well!

Jesus decisively rejects all these temptations and reiterates his firm resolve to follow the path set by the Father, without any kind of compromise with sin or worldly logic. Note well how Jesus responds. He does not dialogue with Satan, as Eve had done in the earthly paradise. Jesus is well aware that there can be no dialogue with Satan, for he is cunning. That is why Jesus, instead of engaging in dialogue as Eve had, chooses to take refuge in the Word of God and responds with the power of this Word. Let us remember this: at the moment of temptation, of our temptations, there is no arguing with Satan, our defence must always be the Word of God! And this will save us. In his replies to Satan, the Lord, using the Word of God, reminds us above all that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3); and this gives us the strength, sustains us in the struggle against a worldly mind-set that would lower man to the level of his primitive needs, causing him to lose hunger for what is true, good and beautiful, the hunger for God and for his love. Furthermore, he recalls that “it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’” (v. 7), for the way of faith passes also through darkness and doubt, and is nourished by patience and persevering expectation. Lastly, Jesus recalls that “it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve’” (v. 10); i.e., we must rid ourselves of idols, of vain things, and build our lives on what is essential.

Jesus’ words will then be borne out in his actions. His absolute fidelity to the Father’s plan of love will lead him after about three years to the final reckoning with the “prince of this world” (Jn 16:11), at the hour of his Passion and Cross, and Jesus will have his final victory, the victory of love!”

Stay strong, stay faithful, stay true to Jesus!

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

February 26th - Repent and believe in the gospel. This Wednesday marks the beginning of the holy season of Lent. Through the prophet Joel 2:12, God calls us “...return to me with your whole heart...” God calls us home, to turn away from sin and to be more faithful. I have been thinking a lot about “home” these past months. What does home really mean? Where is home?

When I was a kid, the neighborhood gang would often play a lot of mush-ball or softball. We would pick teams (I was usually picked last, not only because I wasn’t fast, but because I played to have fun not always to win). One of us would always play third base coach to help the runner advance the bases and hopefully run to home plate. Once, one of the younger kids playing with us who was being coached by the other team responded when he heard the coach yell, “Go home! Run! Go all the way home.” We all fell down in laughter because the young kid ran off the field, up the street and all the way home.

We will spend the next six weeks of Lent preparing to return home to the Lord. He’s cheering us to come home. As I have said in this space before, God wants us, he desires us, he loves us. He wants us to come home, all the way home to Him. Lent is about going home. Where does home really mean? It means getting back to the heart of God. Returning to home-base and starting anew. Where is Home? We find it in the sacraments, in the church, in our community, the body of Christ. To go home, go all the way home, is not just running around the bases of life in circles. It is running off the field, up the street and into the loving arms of God, Our Father. How? By changing our ways. By not living life to have fun, but live as to win the imperishable crown. We spend these next 40 days ridding our lives of sinful ways - those things that keep us from hearing the Coach call to us to go home, to come home. Who is our third base coach? Jesus, spreading his arms wide on the cross, calls to all of us … “Go home...go all the way home!”

Return to God with your whole heart. If you need help let’s talk and pray together. Want to make a confession? Has it been too long? Not to worry, I happen to have the playbook and yes, I will help you with the act of contrition. Can’t make the times scheduled for reconciliation? Just give me a call or email and let’s celebrate God’s mercy.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

February 19th - What I did on my Stay-cation…Many of you know that last week I was on a bit of a stay-cation. Not having any specific plans in mind. What a stay-cation it was! Many, if not all of you, know my Mom fell asleep in peace a little over a week ago, during my stay-cation. As she drew closer and closer to Jesus and farther away from us, what a gift the Lord gave me as I held her hand quietly praying through Mary to Jesus, the Hail Mary prayer. Mom always taught us, as you have heard me say, “Always hold onto the Blessed Mother's apron strings” and “do with what you have.”

During the days preceding Mom's passing, I, along with my brothers and family were able to spend lots of time by her side. “How you doing?” Mom would ask us, the nurses, the doctor, and anyone who came into her room. “Love you, Ma,” we would say; “Love you too,” Mom would respond as we would leave. “See you tomorrow,” mom's response each night, “God willing.” As Mom breathed her last, the temple of her body became empty and her soul began the journey home.

Saint Paul reminds us in his first letter to the Corinthians, that we are temples of God and that the Spirit dwells in us. My stay-cation was filled with a beautiful lesson of this fact of our faith. That while we are here in this world, we are spiritual beings, living, trusting, hoping, loving in the Lord Jesus. We must make every moment count in our walk with Jesus. We can travel the world or take a break by going to the beach. Whatever our plan, nothing can compare to what God has planned in our lives. We need to rely more on Him to help us, and less on helping ourselves.

As we prepared to leave the hospital once Mom was taken away by the funeral director, talking with my family, I said, “I just had the best stay-cation! I have seen, heard, and felt the grace of God in our midst.”

What I am trying to tell you, do not worry about your plans, God is in control. He made you. You belong to Him. Our plans are nothing compared to what He has in store for us. Just sit back, relax, hold onto the Blessed Mother's apron strings and do with what you have. And what you have always, is Jesus, always Jesus.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

February 12th - As Holy Mother Church celebrates World Marriage Day and brings to light the message and beauty of love of thisunconditional Sacrament of service to Christ and His Church, I thought it fitting to share with you a part of Pope Francis’ teaching on Marriage. (For the full text, go to www.Vatican.Va, Words of the Holy Father, May 2015).

“At the beginning of his Gospel, John the Evangelist narrates the episode of the wedding at Cana, at which the Virgin Mary and Jesus were present with his first disciples (cf. Jn 2:1-11). Jesus not only participated at that wedding, but ‘saved the feast’ with the miracle of wine! Thus, the first of His prodigious signs, with which He reveals his glory, He performed in the context of a wedding, and it was an act of great sympathy for that nascent family, entreated by Mary’s motherly care. This reminds us of the Book of Genesis, when God completes his work of creation and makes his masterpiece; the masterpiece is man and woman. And here at a marriage, at a wedding feast, Jesus begins his own miracles with this masterpiece: a man and a woman. Thus Jesus teaches us that the masterpiece of society is the family: a man and a woman who love each other! This is the masterpiece!

...do not be afraid to invite Jesus to your wedding feast, to invite Him to our home, that He may be with us and safeguard the family. And we mustn’t be afraid to also invite his Mother Mary! When Christians marry ‘in the Lord’, they are transformed into an effective sign of God’s love. Christians do not marry for themselves alone: they marry in the Lord for the good of the entire community, society as a whole.”

Make it a great week, Fr. Tom

February 5th - Last week we had our annual spaghetti dinner to support the youth ministry of our parish. (Thank you to all who came out to show your support). If you want to know how much sauce one needs to make for 350 people, it is about 30 gallons. Anyway, I digress. In walking around and greeting our guests, I was flattered by many who wanted the recipe. Usually asking by saying, "You probably would not share it, but can I have the recipe?" In the words of my mom, "don't give me a recipe, if you don't want me to share it." There really is no recipe just tomato purée, garlic, parsley, a little sugar, pork bones, pepper and of course salt. How much? All to taste?

Ok, yes, I can give you approximate measurements, but it is all about achieving the right taste. When I make sauce, I set out to match the taste of my moms. Taste is what the Gospel is about this week. "You are the light of the world,...the salt of the earth...". Salt is necessary to burst the flavor for most foods. Jesus' teaching is about useless flavorless salt. What good is it, if it can't help burst flavor. It is the same with faith. Our faith matters, knowing we are loved is huge, sharing what we know to be true is key, because we could be the salt for others to taste the sweet flavor of Gods grace in Jesus Christ. It's our faith, hope and trust in a God who does not abandon us that gives our relationship with Jesus such heavenly flavor. We have to be willing to live alive in the Spirit to bring the flavor of truth to those we meet. How? Just try to match the way Jesus loved.

So how do we love like Jesus. We must first allow Him to wake up our taste buds. Allow Him to wake your whole self up to allowing Him to live alive in you. The rest is easy, just love. And no worries, while you can put too much salt in a recipe, you can never have enough Jesus, He knows the right amount. So ask the Holy Spirit to fire you up and know that He will always make you perfect to taste the sweet flavor of Jesus.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

January 29th - Consider your own calling…” Saint Paul says in 1 Cor 1:26-31, those who are called are not wise, learned, powerful, even of noble birth, in fact God calls the foolish. Through the scripture this week as in the last couple weeks, we contemplate our belonging to Christ ... our call to live justly and walk with God. This is difficult on many levels. To follow this call to live fully and completely with Christ is difficult.Sort of like trying to unscrew a phillips head screw when you only have a flat screw driver. Where there is a will, there is a way. By God’s will, there is always a way.

The problem is God’s way is not our way. When I was thinking about the priesthood, I really did not think it would work out … I was not wise … certainly not learned … I was just a kid from West Pittsburg. I remember even the night before diaconate ordination thinking, “What am I going to do, how am I going to do it?” Never did I doubt my calling from God. It was the lack of the “right tools” in my tool box. That’s the incredible thing about listening for and following where God calls us. We can do awesome and amazing things through Him who strengthens us.

Getting back to that phillips head screw … if you just tilt the flat screw driver a little towards one of the point sides, your task can be completed. It’s the same with us. Often if we think we don’t have the right tools for where God calls us to be, maybe we need to tilt our head forward and listen more intently to Him. Our call to walk with God may be daunting at times, you may think you can’t do it, you may want to turn away and you may think “how foolish”. Just remember, God calls … in His will there is always a way.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

PS: As we journey On Mission, I ask you to please pray for the young men and women of our parish who have expressed an interest in exploring priesthood and/or religious life. Also, if you or if you know of someone in whom you recognize a special quality that would make a great priest or religious, 1) tell them 2) encourage them 3) tell me so I can pray for them 4) encourage them to talk to me.

PSS: A wonderful way to understand your call to discipleship through Christ Renews His Parish. Give yourself this gift to learn from “witnesses of Christ” to be a “Witness of Christ”.

January 22nd- Distractions - they are everywhere. Depending on your job, you may think of work when you are home, or when you are at work, you may think of the many things going on at home. We probably don't even have to talk about technology. While it is supposed to make our life easier, things can get complicated. Our phones are our modern day idols.

Distractions - they are everywhere. As we try to keep the message of Christmas during these early days of the ordinary time of the liturgical year, there is much that pulls our attention away. Do we attend Holy Mass or just go and put our time in? When I was a young boy, I liked to sit in the choir loft at our church. It was a small church which sat about 130 people, if they were squeezed in the pew. In the choir loft one could see everybody and also play some games and try to make the altar servers laugh. Funny thing is, we thought we could get away with our game playing, until “Father _______” spoke to our parents. He could see everything! Distractions - there is a lot to tempt us and pull our attention away. But our Father, He can see everything. Now, with smart phones and other electronic devices, there is much that pulls our attention from life, from God, even when we worship.

You may not believe what I see: adults and young people texting; more and more phones going off and vibrating; many who come late to the party, not because of life happenings but out of habit; checks being written for the collection; buttons being sewn on; lots of gum chewing ... I think you get the picture. I write about this not to complain, but to gently nudge all of us to attend Holy Mass ready to engage in the Holy and encounter the living God, Our Father.

Why? Because “Christ is always present to His Church, especially in the actions of the liturgy. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, in the person of the minister (it is the same Christ who formerly offered himself on the cross that now offers by the ministry of priests) and most of all under the Eucharistic species. He is present in the sacraments by His power, in such a way that when someone baptizes, Christ himself baptizes. He is present in His word, for it is He Himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in the Church. Finally, He is present when the Church prays and sings, for He Himself promised: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst.” (Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy, Vatican Council II)

As we live this year refocusing our lives on God, let us not allow so many distractions to take our attention away from Christ. Let’s not just go to Mass but fully attend Holy Mass, participate and experience all the love Our Father has for us. Yes, there will always be distractions, but this doesn't mean we have to give in to them, rather let us be attracted to the joy that is in the Father’s love through Jesus Christ.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

January 15th - January 10, 2017 marked the seventh month of my time here at St. Richard. Wow, how fast the time is moving by; I have passed the halfway point of my pastoral year. Now as I reflect back on these several months, I can say that I have experienced a little bit of everything in the parish and all of those experiences are valuable. To name a broad few, these experiences ranged from serving at liturgy to training Altar servers, involving in trips like the Appalachia Mission Trip in West Virginia to World Youth Day travel to Poland, from teaching faith formation and doing video bible study to helping out youth ministry with EDGE and Life Teen.

Being in the parish is not the same as being in the seminary. However, the key aspect remains the same, and that is encountering Christ in the Eucharist. The center of my seminary formation is encountering Christ and receiving Him at Mass, and then bringing Him into various aspects of seminary formation. Likewise, the pastoral experiences at the parish are also Christo-Centric (Christ centered) in the Eucharist at Mass, and then bringing Christ into other aspects in the parish life. This means the Liturgy (the Mass) is a very important part of my pastoral experiences; it is in fact the most important component in the parish life and seminary formation. Because only after being filled with Christ and God’s grace, then can we bring Christ to others and into other areas of our life.

This means no matter what our vocations are in life or what various things that we do in life, Christ should be the center of our life. Personally for me, none of my experiences matter if it is without Christ. I want to ask that all of us to be open at Mass, to have our hearts be open to God, and to earnestly ask Him to dwell within our hearts when we encounter Him at Mass. Then, filled with God’s grace can our life experiences really matter.

Sincerely yours in Christ,Mingwei, Seminarian

January 8th- “Well, we got another one in.” Every year sometime between January first and January sixth (what used to be the Feast of the Epiphany), when we would take our decorations down, my dad would utter these words.

I spent a few days between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day under my trusted blanket getting rid of a nasty cold that seems to have gripped so many. This down time gave me pause and allowed me to reflect on traditions, people and happenings in life. My Dad’s statement was not just clicking off another holiday season or moving from one year to the next. I believe it was a response of living life in the good and not so good and all that happens day to day, trusting in God. This, together with a Christmas card, gave me pause to think, ‘What can I do differently?’ The card read, “The world in which we live isn’t so different from the one to which Jesus came. It still desperately needs hope that only a Savior can bring.”

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, when the world came to see and adore the manifestation of God’s love. Our world is not so different from the one in which Jesus came. Why? If we know what we know and believe what we believe, maybe we are just clicking each day and not living each day as a manifestation of God’s love. If we remember one thing, remember Jesus, our Savior, came. He brought hope, despite the world not knowing it. He brought peace, despite the world not understanding it. He brought love, which the world desperately needed, currently needs and will always need, even though we forget it.

As we continue to walk each day in Him, I pray that no matter what life brings, the good and the not so good, you will live in His hope, embrace His peace and encounter His love so that, everyday, no matter how difficult life may get, you will be able to say, ‘We got another one in, because of Him.’

May this be the time that we are affected and live differently through the manifestation of God’s love, so that we can affect others, affect the whole world with Jesus our hope, Jesus our peace and Jesus our love. May we adore Him always and in all ways.

Make it a great life in Him,Fr. Tom

January 1st - “Hold on to the Blessed Mother's apron strings.” This is one of my Mom’s pearls of wisdom she lives by in her life. To stay close to Mary is to stay close to Jesus. For eight days now we have been celebrating in the Octave of Christmas (eight days being as one). As we walk through the liturgical seasons this year, the fullness of its meaning can be found in simply holding on the Blessed Mother’s apron strings becauseshe points us to the joy of Jesus.

What joy there is for a child to be held, cuddled or caressed in the arms of his/her mother. This past July when I was with our young people in Krakow, Poland for World Youth Day, I had an incredible moment with Our Lady of Czestochowa. As my Mom lay in the hospital in New Castle with congestive heart failure, I was conflicted … should I stay in Poland or leave to be by her side knowing that she wanted me to stay with our kids. It was a very hard test of trust and faith for me. Trying to be obedient but feeling helpless and afraid, there was nothing else I could do but hold on to the Blessed Mother’s apron strings. As I was praying in the Basilica which houses “The Black Madonna”, I prayed that Jesus would take care of my Mom. Again, afraid and unsure, what happened next was pure grace. As I walked and prayed, I found myself face to face with the image, of Holy Mary, known as the Black Madonna (some say darkened by fire, others from age - I think it is because she is close to the light, the heat of love, Jesus her Son. In a moment my tears turned to joy. I found myself in my Mother’s arms. “You really are my Mother” I remember saying out loud as if in conversation. Her response, “Yes and I always will be here to hold you. Do not be afraid.” Immediately, I thought, “Always hold on to the Blessed Mother’s apron strings”. Praise God! The next day when I phoned home, Mom took a turn for the good, making progress each day and the day after I got home from Kraków, she was discharged and I was blessed to be able to take Mom home.

While no one can tell the future, we can learn from our encounters with God as we walk. On this first day of the new calendar year, you and I are already five weeks into our new liturgical year and our walk with Jesus. We are reminded that we always have our Mother Mary to walk with. Life will go up and down. There will be times we feel very close to Jesus and other times we feel far away. There will be good times and not so good times. Times we glide and times we struggle during this year. One thing is for certain, to walk without fear is as simple as holding on to the Blessed Mother’s apron strings. She’s our Mom and she will always lead us to Jesus her Son, our Savior.

Make it a great year, always hold onto the Blessed Mother’s apron strings,

Fr. Tom

December 25- What wonder, what joy, what peace, what love has been shown to us this Christmas Day. For over two millennia the world has marked this day as holy. The second reading from Titus 2:11-14 for the Christmas Mass at Night tells us why; “Beloved: The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.” As we all enjoy the excitement of gifts from loved ones and the jolly old elf himself, Kris Kringle, let’s not forget the true gift from heaven. This beautiful present, which needs no batteries and comes with directions, simply love because you have been loved. This day is a holy day, a joyful day. Let us be glad in it by living our lives to the Lord our God.

While there is much joy today, let us be mindful of those who struggle this beautiful morning. Maybe this is their first Christmas alone, dealing with the loss of a loved one ... they are not alone. Let us be mindful of our brothers and sisters who may feel lost and alone, broken and afraid ... they are not alone. Remember too, our brothers and sisters who struggle to live with basic necessities ... they are not alone. Those who suffer from physical or mental health issues ... they are not alone. Men, women and children in war torn countries ... they are not alone. People in need on the city street, our friends in Mullens, West Virginia, the Sisters and the children in Patzun, Guatemala, and those right here in our community ... they are not alone. For all of us that we may be grateful and trusting in God as Father ... we are not alone. How? Because of the wonder, the joy, the peace and the love which has appeared in the form of a tender baby so we would be saved and trained to reject Godless ways. May we never lose the wonder of a child this Christmas Day and know ... We are loved!

Make it a great week in the newborn child the Christ,Fr. Tom

December 18th- In a few short days, Christmas with all its beauty, joy and excitement will be here. Are you ready or do you still have much to do? Wherever you may be on your Advent journey, this is the time you and I have been preparing for. In our last minute preparations, we must “let the Lord enter, he is the king of glory”. (Psalm 24). For this first month of the new liturgical year, I have been encouraging all of us to commit to walking with the Lord for when we do, there is a real beauty, a real joy and a real excitement.

A few days ago Ming and I put up our Christmas tree. As we decorated the tree with many different shapes and sizes of ornaments given to me throughout the years, I explained where each came from and why it was memorable. When we were finished with all the many colored lights and unique ornaments our tree came alive. Isn’t this the same with our lives? When we let the Lord enter and realize the richness of life in Him, we come alive. Like the branches of our Christmas tree coming alive with each new ornament placed upon its out stretched arm, our lives are much more beautiful, much more joyful and much more exciting when we allow our hearts to be stretched and our branches trimmed. How might we do this? Allow the Lord to lead you, then follow. Remember how He stretched out His arms on the “tree of life” for us? As Christmas approaches, there is much to do. Most important is to allow Christ to decorate our hearts in grace.

After our Christmas tree was decorated, we sat in the dark with only the tree lights shining. Wow! The beauty, the joy and the excitement that is to come. While you may or may not have much to do, this week give yourself a gift and be still. Let Him into your heart, let Him decorate your heart and soul in the many colors and bright light of His grace. Allow yourself to be filled with the beauty, the joy and the excitement because He is the king of glory.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

December 11th- Today in our Advent Season of walking in joyful hope, Holy Mother Church leads us in prayer: “O God, who see how your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity, enable us, we pray, to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them always with solemn worship and glad rejoicing.” Recently I went into the city to enjoy some of the excitement of Christmas preparations. Strolling around the streets, in the midst of the glitz and glitter, the red and green ribbons and bows, the twinkling lights and shining stars, there it was. The reason for the season. The sign that reminded all who passed by the cause of our rejoicing ...“Happy Birthday Jesus!” Because He came and will come again, we must prepare and rejoice. Our journey of faith this week is a time for great rejoicing. We must rejoice and our souls jump for joy for today salvation is more near at hand.

How should we prepare? By asking the Lord to open our lips, that our hearts may sing His praise. To be with Jesus, the way to salvation and beyond, we must remain faithful, being different in the midst of the glimmer of earthly temptations. This is hard, but if we are to live life to the full we must remember the reason for the season, the cause of our hope and celebrate it with solemn worship and glad rejoicing each day, in season and out of season.

Make it a great week of rejoicingin the coming of the Lord,Fr. Tom

December 4th- Almighty and merciful God, may no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet your Son, but may our learning of heavenly wisdom gain us admittance to his company.” This is a part of the collect (opening prayer) for this Second Sunday of Advent. So, we are a week into our walk through the liturgical year of Christ and His Church. I hope you will not get discouraged, which is easy to do. Think about it ... it is much easier to throw caution to the wind and eat junk food, which is packaged and readily available, than it is to eat the good stuff. Temptation is around every corner … like all those Christmas candies at the check out that seem to call our name. Resist it. Resist him, the evil one, and know that you are loved. God loves us. Why else would he have sent His Son to save us? This week try to slow it down. While our prayer is, God come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help us. While we run in haste to meet Jesus, let’s not stay for a short time and keep running in haste. Sit a bit with Him and He will show you amazing things.

I have been reminiscing about my childhood. I remember my grandpa making his rounds to our house and homes of my aunts and uncles. When he would come in, we greeted him with hugs and he would sit at the kitchen table, placing his hat on his knee, and enjoy a cup of coffee all the while checking on us. From his spot at the table came great life lessons and wisdom. This week invite Jesus into your heart. Sit with him, put your hat of worries on your knee and embrace the life wisdom he has for you. Don’t get up hastily, but enjoy the moment of amazing grace. The temptations will still be there, but you can overcome them in Him who strengthens you.

Make it a great week, walk with Jesus,Fr. Tom

Wake up! Stay awake! So begins the new liturgical year. We pray in the collect for this first Sunday of Advent, “Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.” With the beginning of this new liturgical year, the first few weeks are filled with a prayer that the Lord may show Himself to us. Come God be with us.

God is with us. So I am challenging myself, you and the entire parish to live remembering our God is with us. To that end, I am asking you to go on a journey with me this Advent, Christmas, and through out the entire year. Let’s live our lives by the liturgical calendar: keeping Holy the Lord’s Day, marking major and minor feasts throughout this next year and watching the bulletin, website and your email for reminders of feasts and solemnities which will guide us through the next 365 days.

Why? Because it is time we get back to the basics: give Sunday back to the Lord and commit to following Christ. Right about now you might be confused. Since you go to Holy Mass on Sunday, you do your duty. That’s just it, let’s not just do our duty, but live our lives in Him rather than one foot in the Kingdom and one in this world. To begin we must, Wake up! Stay awake! and not drift into complacency, but be prepared to run to meet Christ.

To start our journey this Advent beginning today, let’s all, Take 5! Let’s do 5 acts to prepare the way for the Lord and keep holy the season of Advent. To the right of this column are a few suggestions, of course it is not exhaustive.

Take 5! and make it a great Advent,Fr. Tom

As we conclude what has been a beautiful Jubilee Year of Mercy encountering the merciful love of the Father, we celebrate today the crowning glory of Jesus who is, was and always will be our King. I thought it so fitting to share with you the following moving words of Pope Francis from a homily for the Feast of Christ the King November 2013.

“The Scripture readings proclaimed to us have as their common theme the centrality of Christ. Christ is at the centre, Christ is the centre. Christ is the centre of creation, Christ is the centre of his people and Christ is the centre of history.

The apostle Paul, in the second reading, taken from the letter to the Colossians, offers us a profound vision of the centrality of Jesus. He presents Christ to us as the first-born of all creation: in him, through him and for him all things were created. He is the centre of all things, he is the beginning: Jesus Christ, the Lord. God has given him the fullness, the totality, so that in him all things might be reconciled (cf. Col 1:12-20). He is the Lord of creation, he is the Lord of reconciliation.

This image enables to see that Jesus is the centre of creation; and so the attitude demanded of us as true believers is that of recognizing and accepting in our lives the centrality of Jesus Christ, in our thoughts, in our words and in our works. And so our thoughts will be Christian thoughts, thoughts of Christ. Our works will be Christian works, works of Christ; and our words will be Christian words, words of Christ. But when this centre is lost, when it is replaced by something else, only harm can result for everything around us and for ourselves.

Besides being the centre of creation and the centre of reconciliation, Christ is the centre of the people of God. Today, he is here in our midst. He is here right now in his word, and he will be here on the altar, alive and present amid us His people...Christ is the centre of the history of humanity and also the centre of the history of every individual. To him we can bring the joys and the hopes, the sorrows and troubles which are part of our lives. When Jesus is the centre, light shines even amid the darkest times of our lives; he gives us hope, as he does to the good thief in today’s Gospel.

Whereas all the others treat Jesus with disdain – “If you are the Christ, the Messiah King, save yourself by coming down from the cross!” – the thief who went astray in his life but now repents, clings to the crucified Jesus and begs him: “Remember me, when you come into your kingdom” (Lk 23:42). Jesus promises him: “Today you will be with me in paradise” (v. 43), in his kingdom. Jesus speaks only a word of forgiveness, not of condemnation; whenever anyone finds the courage to ask for this forgiveness, the Lord does not let such a petition go unheard. Today we can all think of our own history, our own journey. Each of us has his or her own history: we think of our mistakes, our sins, our good times and our bleak times. We would do well, each one of us, on this day, to think about our own personal history, to look at Jesus and to keep telling him, sincerely and quietly: “Remember me, Lord, now that you are in your kingdom! Jesus, remember me, because I want to be good, but I just don’t have the strength: I am a sinner, I am a sinner. But remember me, Jesus! You can remember me because you are at the centre, you are truly in your kingdom!” How beautiful this is! Let us all do this today, each one of us in his or her own heart, again and again. “Remember me, Lord, you who are at the centre, you who are in your kingdom”.

Jesus’ promise to the good thief gives us great hope: it tells us that God’s grace is always greater than the prayer which sought it. The Lord always grants more, he is so generous, he always gives more than what he has been asked: you ask him to remember you, and he brings you into his kingdom!

Let us ask the Lord to remember us, in the certainty that by his mercy we will be able to share his glory in paradise. Let us go forward together on this road!”

May we move forward relying more on the Mercy of God for all things in our life, living centered on Jesus Christ the King!

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

Life doesn’t stop does it? As I write this edition of “The Voice”, it is Monday, the day after a busy, grace-filled weekend, the beginning of another week, amongst many other happenings. As you read these words almost a week later, it’s starting all over again. Life does not stop. Life does not seem to end, and we should hope it never does. In this week’s Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells us about the end times and how we cannot allow ourselves to be fooled by false prophets nor be paralyzed by fear. He also teaches us how we are to live this time of expectation as witnesses, persevering in the faith. In short, we are to continue to wait, living life in expectation of the coming of the Lord. Saint Paul says in his first letter to the Thessalonians 3:12-13 “May the Lord increase you and make you overflow with love for one another and for all, even as our love does for you. May he strengthen your hearts, making them blameless and holy before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His holy ones.” Jesus draws us closer to God, the giver of all life, for he is God, the fulfillment of our true happiness. This happiness can happen when we live fully, allowing the Lord to increase in our lives. Life is a series of ins and outs, ups and downs, successes and disappointments. However, one thing is clear, when we persevere in the truth of Christ rather than the false teachings of this world, and live in expectation of the coming of the Lord, we can reach a happiness that is beyond imagination. So as life keeps on keeping on, we mustn’t stop living in hope. We must not live limited by this world but live in the expectation of His Kingdom in heaven, our true happiness. In short, keep your eye on Jesus.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

We have arrived! After what seems like an eternity, on Tuesday, our country will go to the polls to elect a new president, vice-president and various other public servants. As I have been saying here in this space as well as during Holy Mass, it is important that we exercise our right and privilege to vote. It is a moral obligation. There is much at stake in this election, the need to appoint justices for the Supreme Court, the threat to our religious freedom, life and the gift that it is from conception to natural death, as well as the care for those, like our ancestors, who are immigrants. Much rhetoric has been put forth, but one thing is for certain, our faith must lead our decision making process. We must keep our eyes and hearts on the teachings of Christ and His Church if we are going to be committed to what we live for and towards (see the message given by Pope Francis to the right). We must not make choices based on living from life to death, but make those choices living from life to death to life. It does seem like an eternity since this election cycle began, but what matters is living for the real eternity, salvation, everlasting life. Don’t just think of this Tuesday as the end to all the political ads with a calm coming on Wednesday. You and I both know, that come Thursday, all the political pundits will start again for another four years. Think about today, tomorrow, Tuesday and every day as the beginning of the rest of our lives lived in, with and through Jesus for all eternity, if we can just hold on.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

In two weeks our country will go to the polls to elect various public servants, including President of these United States. The two candidates of the red and blue parties are two of the most unpopular candidates in our country’s history. Is this the best we can do? Many conversations about the election have included dissatisfaction and dissolution to the point of not voting. We as citizens must vote. It is a right, a freedom and a gift. There is much at stake ... first and foremost life. Yet, if you are like me, there is much confusion. When praying about your decision on who to vote for, don’t think about the candidate, but the agenda. Which again, first and foremost is life. Both of the two main stream political parties may have produced two unpopular candidates, but when we look at the issues facing our nation and the agendas of each party, it may help you do your civic duty and let your voice be heard. One very important, if not the important item, is the appointment of Justices to sit on the Supreme Court. Much is at stake ... life is at stake. I am so looking forward to November 9, but, then again, I would imagine that’s when the new election cycle will begin all over again. Ugh! We should measure our vote in not one color or the other, but both red and blue of the divine mercy that flows from the side of Christ that constantly gives us new life. We should measure our lives by His mercy, so why not also the way we vote. Let’s get out and vote, and do the best we can by measuring the agenda of each party to the law we follow, Scripture, and the head of our lives as Church - Jesus Christ. Not voting is not an option, it is a privilege. Let’s pray that the politicians who are running for office will remember they are public servants when they are elected. And remember, when trying to decide who to vote for, much is at stake ... most importantly the most precious gift of all ...LIFE!

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

As you know, this past week we completed the initial consultation sessions for On Mission for the Church Alive. Please also know our work is incomplete. We will be uploading the proposed models and information to our parish website and have copies in the narthex so that you are able to study and pray over them. This will enable you and I to have a good conversation. The next conversation for On Mission will be held Wednesday, November 16 at 7:30 pm in the Church. This meeting will be you and me, so we can share what we are thinking. Part of our conversation will also include reaching out to others. As Pope Francis encourages us on this World Mission Sunday (see his message to the right), “His (Jesus) love is for all people(s)”. We need to do our very best to continue the good work God has begun in us while extending the hand of Christ to others.

Leading up to our first meetings I said many times, “change is coming”. When we look and see the initial proposal that has us possibly joining hands with St. Catherine of Sweden, we might ask, “Two priests and two churches or campuses, so what’s the change?” My response, “Everything!” While the church buildings would remain, the parish name would change, the number of Masses would decrease at each church and we also have to change our mindset, our status quo ... our doing things the same way. Sure, let’s take what works and keep on keeping on. But let’s find new ways to reach out to our brothers and sisters who are cold to faith, or unchurched. These have to be a part of our discussions.

Please make every effort to attend these meetings to let your voice be heard. I will be working with our parish On Mission Team to facilitate the meetings. I will also be consulting our Pastoral Council and Finance Council for their wisdom. I can tell you I’m excited and filled with anxious joy about this time of Pentecost for the church. I’m intrigued with where the Lord will lead us to do His will. May we trust Him, hope in Him and love in Him. And may our dear Blessed Mother always point us to Him.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

By now you know that something is changing about our local church. You’ve either read about On Mission for the Church Alive in the bulletin, in thePittsburgh Catholic, came to the first of many consultation meetings this past Monday, or even saw our parish on the news. You have another chance this Tuesday, October 18 at 7:00 pm here at our parish to find out what’s happening during the second of many meetings about growing the Church. I do hope you will attend and encourage others to attend with you. Why? We are Church. We are alive in the Spirit and need to start getting fired up in our faith and invite others to do the same. Saint Paul tells Timothy to “be persistent”.

I invite you to reflect on the words of Pope Francis in the next column on Pentecost. We are people of the Spirit and we cannot give up. We should not accept a new normal, but the normal of Christ alive in us. We must give in to being persistent of faith. We must start living not day to day or Sunday to Sunday, but day by day in Christ. We must live in the Spirit today and every day towards salvation. Something is changing. More over, something is happening. Something is being stirred in us and that is the Holy Spirit so that we may “be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.” 2 Timothy 4:2. It is time we wake from sleep and rise up and live On Mission for the Church Alive.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

Change - who wants it? Usually no one. Who needs it? Usually everyone. For weeks now you’ve been seeing information for On Mission for the Church Alive in the Pittsburgh Catholic, reading about it in the bulletin and you’ve heard the priests pray the On Mission prayer at the prayers of the faithful for the better part of a year or more. Now it is time to find out what On Mission is all about for our diocese. The Holy Spirit is calling us to rekindle the flame of Pentecost so as to be alive in Christ. We must catch the Spirit who sustains our life in Christ.

As Church, we also need to work smarter together, not harder. By this I mean we need to make better use of our resources to better enable us to be the hands and feet of Christ. This is going to take change. Change of heart, change of mind, change from same old same old, change from the status quo, change so as to be rekindled as Church in the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Change is coming. I am asking everyone of our parish community to come to the first of many Consultation Meetings for our parish concerning On Mission for the Church Alive on Monday, October 10 in the Social Hall and Tuesday, October 18 in the Church. Both meetings will be from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Change is coming and we can affect it for the better by letting our voice be heard. For more information, please see the display in the narthex. You can also go to onmissionforthechurchalive.org.

As I said in my homily last week, it is time to break the status quo. Step up and step out in faith, embrace the truth, speak the truth and live the truth - Jesus Christ Savior and Lord.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

Change is coming! Change is coming! For over 2,000 years, generation to generation, the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ has been handed down.Although rather difficult at the beginning and at times in the history of Christianity, minds have been changed, hearts have been changed, lives have been changed by this good news. Jesus Christ has risen. Our responsibility in our time is to hand on this same message of hope, faith, love and great joy to the next generation. We as Roman Catholics seem to have roamed out of control (excuse the pun). Too many of the flock profess to be followers of Jesus, but look the other way. In the words of Saint Peter, “...to whom shall we go Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.” (John 6:68). It is time we get back to the basics, to go on mission, to be a strong church, a Church Alive, so as to embrace our responsibility to hand on the Good News to our children and our children’s children as Saint Paul explains in his letter to Timothy, (2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14).

St. Paul reminds us to stir into flame the gift of God, the Spirit. This is what On Mission for the Church is about … being alive in Christ, telling the Good News. To be alive means constantly allowing our hearts and minds to be changed for the better in Christ while staying focused on the truth. When we rely more on the Spirit, we stop just taking up space in the pew and start reaching out to others. Together we can take our place in the pew to worship and then leave our time of worship to preach the gospel with our lives.

Yes, On Mission for the Church Alive is about the lessening numbers in the pew, too many Masses and not enough priests to serve. But, it is more about growing the Church to be fully alive.

Please plan to attend either or both of our parish consultation meetings listed in the bulletin today and let your voice be heard. These are the first of many consultation meetings where Bishop Zubik and I need your input so we can serve the Church of Pittsburgh more fully and completely.

Change is coming. May the Lord help us to not be afraid, and to allow our hearts to be filled with joy so that we may be fired up about our faith!

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

For well over a year you have been hearing me or one of the guest celebrants for Holy Mass pray the On Mission Prayer written by our own Bishop David Zubik for the On Mission initiative. As we as a diocese enter the consultation phase of the process of growing The Church Alive, I am struck by the following words of St. Andrew Kim Taegon, a Korean martyr of the church:

“My brothers and sisters, my dearest friends, think again and again on this: God has ruled over all things in heaven and on earth from the beginning of time: then reflect on why and for what purpose he chose each one of us to be created in his own image and likeness. In this world of perils and hardship, if we did not recognize the Lord as our Creator, there would be no benefit either in being born or in our continued existence. We have come into this world by God’s grace; by that same grace we have received baptism, entrance into the Church and the honor of being called Christians. Yet what good will this do us if we are Christians in name alone and not in fact? We would have come into the world for nothing, we would have entered the Church for nothing, and we would have betrayed even God and his grace.”

As our diocese is preparing for change, change of attitude and change of heart, we must all think about how we live and act in God’s grace. What is this preparation about? It is about being fully alive in Christ as individuals, as parishes and as Church. Please keep watching the bulletin, the Pittsburgh Catholic and the diocesan website diopitt.org, as well as our parish website saintrichardparish.org for more information On Mission for the Church Alive. It is time we rise up and live our lives fully alive in Christ. Please note the consultation sessions being held here at Saint Richard in October found on the flyer in this bulletin. I, we, the Bishop needs your voice to be heard.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

Last week I attended a meeting for the diocesan Fall Retreat coming up in November. As we discussed the theme of “Inheritance”, our conversation turned to white martyrdom. We all know red martyrs of the faith ... those saints who died a gruesome death giving their blood for Christ … St. Peter, St. Sebastian, St. Maria Goretti, St. Maximilian Kolbe, to name a few. A white martyr is someone who dies to self and to the world, totally giving themselves to God ... St. Katerina Tekawitha, comes to mind.

While in our country Christians are not put to death, they are silenced by persecution through ignorance. I understand in our schools when students were asked the normal first day of school question, “What was your favorite part of summer?” the normal answers ensued ... vacation, swimming, etc. When one young gal tried to explain her favorite part of summer was the Appalachia Mission Trip and Youth Conference, the teacher ignored her and cut her off.

This is happening too many times. We must not stop talking. We must not stop preaching Christ with our lives. We must not give up, but give in to asking God for the spiritual gifts to serve Him and proclaim Him.

One way to not give up is to open ourselves to the Spirit. In two weeks, on Saturday, October 1, the St. Richard Prayer Group will celebrate 20 plus years of praying and leading others in prayer and to the river of life by introducing many to the charismatic gifts the Lord promises all of us (see the flyer and writing on the charismatic renewal in today’s bulletin). We will welcome Living Praises, a popular group of women who lead praise and worship all over the world to lead our music. While Holy Mass will be a little longer than normal, I strongly encourage and invite everyone to come and join this beautiful moment in our jubilee year of mercy to call down the Spirit to envelop us in grace to receive the gifts of the Spirit so as to have the courage to be a white martyr to give all to God.

We must rise up as believers and make our voices heard. We must stop being quiet and shout it from the mountaintops that Jesus Christ is Lord!

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

As we mark 15 years since the horrible attack on American soil in New York, Washington, DC and here in Western Pennsylvania, let us remember all of those innocent lives lost ... gone in the blink of an eye. May we also remember those who gave their lives trying to save others during that dark day in our country’s history. May God grant us His protection and may He grant peace all over the world.

Let us offer a special word of praise to the men and women who sacrifice their lives as first responders every day. We salute those who serve on the police force, fire departments and EMT Units. May God give you strength to protect and to serve. Thank you!

This coming week and weekend our kids will begin a new year of Faith Formation, Lifeteen and Edge. As classes begin remember, class, Lifeteen and Edge do not take the place of attending Holy Mass. Let us pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all our young people. A special thank you to all the catechists, aides and core team members who have stepped up to join me in helping parents be the first teachers of the faith.

As an outreach to our 18-23 year olds, I will be contacting all of our young people who attend college, are in the armed forces or have joined the work force. I would ask parents, grandparents and/or family members to call the parish office with the following information: name, postal address and what your particular young person is studying or where they are working. Please contact the office by Friday, September 23.

Monday, September 19 through Friday, September, 23 I will join Bishop Zubik and my brother priests from around the diocese for the Triennial Multiday Priest Convocation. All daily Masses during that week will be as normal. We will be one of the only parishes with daily Mass. Please pray for Bishop Zubik and all the priests as we gather to pray and discern how the Lord is calling us to shepherd His people.

Join Seminarian Ming on a pilgrimage to the Immaculate Conception Shrine in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, October 8. See the article in this bulletin for details.

Thank you for your patience as we iron out details to ensure enough ministers to provide both the Holy Host and Precious Blood to those present at the 8:00 am and 12:00 noon Masses.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

At 10:00 am Rome time, Pope Francis celebrated the canonization Mass declaring Mother Teresa a saint of Holy Mother Church. Below I share with you words of St. John Paul II spoken to those gathered for her beautification on October 20, 2003.

“A ‘Missionary of Charity: this is what Mother Teresa was in name and in fact’...First and foremost a missionary: there is no doubt that the new Blessed was one of the greatest missionaries of the 20th century. The Lord made this simple woman who came from one of Europe’s poorest regions a chosen instrument (cf. Acts 9:15) to proclaim the Gospel to the entire world, not by preaching but by daily acts of love towards the poorest of the poor. A missionary with the most universal language: the language of love that knows no bounds or exclusion and has no preferences other than for the most forsaken.

A Missionary of Charity. A missionary of God who is love, who has a special preference for the least and the humble, who bends over the human being wounded in body and spirit and pours ‘the oil of consolation and the wine of hope’ upon the wounds. God did this in the person of his Son made man, Jesus Christ, the Good Samaritan of humanity. He continues to do this in the Church, especially through the saints of charity in whose ranks Mother Teresa shines in a special way.

Where did Mother Teresa find the strength to place herself completely at the service of others? She found it in prayer and in the silent contemplation of Jesus Christ, his Holy Face, his Sacred Heart. She herself said as much: ‘The fruit of silence is prayer; the fruit of prayer is faith; the fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; the fruit of service is peace’. Peace, even at the side of the dying, even in nations at war, even in the face of attacks and hostile criticism. It was prayer that filled her heart with Christ’s own peace and enabled her to radiate that peace to others.

A missionary of charity, a missionary of peace, a missionary of life. Mother Teresa was all these. She always spoke out in defense of human life, even when her message was unwelcome. Mother Teresa’s whole existence was a hymn to life. Her daily encounters with death, leprosy, AIDS and every kind of human suffering made her a forceful witness to the Gospel of life. Her very smile was a ‘yes’ to life, a joyful ‘yes’, born of profound faith and love, a ‘yes’ purified in the crucible of suffering. She renewed that ‘yes’ each morning, in union with Mary, at the foot of Christ’s Cross. The ‘thirst’ of the crucified Jesus became Mother Teresa’s own thirst and the inspiration of her path of holiness.

Teresa of Calcutta was truly a Mother. A mother to the poor and a mother to children. A mother to so many girls and young people who had her as their spiritual guide and shared in her mission. The Lord brought forth from a tiny seed, a great tree, laden with fruit (cf. Mt 13:31-32)...today more than ever, Mother Teresa’s message is an invitation addressed to us all. Her entire existence reminds us that being Christian means being witnesses of charity. This is what the new Blessed entrusts to us. Echoing her words, I urge each one to follow generously and courageously in the footsteps of this authentic disciple of Christ. On the path of charity, Mother Teresa walks at your side.”

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

Did you invite anyone to come to Mass with you? We all have received invitations, either by mail, email or in person. Whether it’s a wedding, a birthday party, or some other life event, everybody likes to be invited to a special occasion. Each Sunday we take part in a most special celebration. Many are invited, but many do not come for various reasons -- lack of time, ignorance, a lack of faith, etc. Part of the On Mission initiative in the Diocese is to invite others to the table. We are invited and we need to invite others. Many don’t know what they don’t know. When Jesus began his public ministry, he did not go and sit on a rock and wait for others to come to him. He began by going to one person at a time. We must do the same. Our message is clear: “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son” John 3:16. Let’s tell others this Good News.

At Mass today, did you wonder where that person that normally sat next to you has gone? Why not call him/her? What about your neighbor...yes, even that one? What about that person at work who you know could use a dose of the amazing grace of God’s love and mercy? This Year of Mercy is about forgiveness, healing and belonging. But, it is even more about welcoming others to the table. Let’s start inviting others to the celebration. How? One person at a time. Don’t be afraid. Even Jesus was rejected, but in the end He is still here.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

For this week’s Voice, I bring to you some important happenings in our parish and around the diocese.

Extraordinary Ministers of the EucharistAs you know, we have temporarily stopped offering the Precious Blood of Christ at the 8 am and 12 noon Masses due to the limited number of ministers. Thanks to those who have come forward to volunteer. If you are interested in becoming an Extraordinary Minister of Communion, please contact the parish office.

I need your help!Can you help me help our parents to help our kids know Jesus? We are in need of catechists for the Faith Formation Program. Would you consider spending a little time each week so that our kids may learn about God’s love for them for all time? For more information, please contact the Faith Formation office.

Confirmation 2016Bishop Zubik will visit our parish on Saturday, October 22 to confer the Sacrament of Confirmation upon our young men and women. Please pray for the close to 100 candidates and their sponsors. Over the next few weeks, Mingwei and I will be interviewing each candidate individually to assure their readiness.Want to become a Deacon?Do you have a heart for others? This is the question asked by Bishop Zubik as he calls for a new class of Deacons. If you are interested in ministry to Christ and His Church as a Deacon (or maybe you might want to suggest a candidate), please contact myself or Deacon Gary. As you may have read in this column before, deacons are those called to being messengers of Good News. It all starts with a heart for others.Men of the parish exploring the priesthoodOur parish is blessed to have four young men discerning a call to priesthood for service from the heart of Jesus to His Church. They are:Mr. Kevin O'Connor, Second Theology at St. Mary Seminary in Baltimore, MD. Kevin is the son of Dennis and Bonnie O'Connor.Mr. John Flynn, Second Year Pre-Theology, St. Paul Seminary, Pittsburgh, PA. John is the son of Michael and Heather Flynn.Mr. Gabriel Salibi, First year Pre-Theology, St. Paul Seminary, Pittsburgh, PA. Gabriel is the son of Debbie Salibi.Mr. Michael Likoudis, son of Mark and Kathy Likoudis. Michael is in his first year of college seminary. He is studying for the Diocese of San Antonio, Texas. Please pray for them all.

Pastoral Care at Passavant HospitalFor over 20 years, 10 parishes of the North Hills area, including St. Richard, have funded a Pastoral Minister at Passavant Hospital. During those many years, Sr. Caritas served the patients and staff faithfully. She coordinated Communion Ministers,on-call priests, and much more. This past June, Sr. Caritas retired from ministry. We thank Sister for her dedication to her ministry.

Those same 10 parishes have begun to fund a diocesan priest to take over the role of Pastoral Minister. Fr. Vince Kolo began his ministry on July 11. He has many years of experience in Hospital Ministry. Aside from his two days off when the priests of the North Hills area will cover for emergencies, Fr. Vince will make rounds, celebrate anointing of the sick and coordinate volunteer Communion Ministers. This is to care for the patients and staff of the hospital and to assist area priests when they cannot get to the hospital to visit ailing parishioners.

That being said, we continue to have Anointing of the Sick available anytime. If you are planning to have surgery or are undergoing treatment for what ails you, please contact Fr. Tom at the parish office any time or come to the celebration of the Anointing of the Sick following the 12 noon Mass on the last Sunday of the month.

Remember, HIPAA laws will not allow the hospitals to inform us when a parishioner is a patient. Please contact the pastoral care department and ask for the Catholic Chaplain. If you would like a visit from our ministry team here at the parish, please contact the parish office. This is the only way we will know you are in the hospital. Also, we as a parish can help you or your loved one upon discharge with receiving communion, meals, visits, etc., so please let us know if we can help.

Finally, The Collect for this week prays, “O God, who cause our minds to unite in a single purpose...amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.” Our purpose must be Christ. The place where we fix our hearts in His Most Sacred Heart. How? Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. As she presents Jesus to us, she also draws our attention to Him. As we prepare for consecration to Jesus through Mary, open your heart and He will do the rest. Let us pray for one another.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

As I continue to try and make sense of the incredible, indescribable, grace-filled pilgrimage to Poland, the unexpected underlying meaning of this journey was - life. Life in all different forms. But most of all, a faith life born of Mary and rooted in the cross of Christ. So often I found myself at the foot of the cross with Mary. While being a conundrum, this is the place that has always given me much joy, the place that gives me life. The cross of Christ is where we can all find comfort despite whatever circumstance we may be in at any given moment in our lives. This seeming contradiction of love is in fact the essence of love. This ultimate sacrifice is why Jesus came and how he sets the world on fire.

Today, the twentieth Sunday of ordinary time, is also the memorial of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe. He is our companion Saint this month for The Year of Mercy. He stepped up to give his life for another. In Poland, I had the unexpected, humble privilege to stand in the very spot in the Auschwitz death camp where this occurred. There are no words. “How unworthy, how unable” were my thoughts. Immediately, in answer to my sorrow, was Jesus saying, “...but I make you worthy, I make you able.” While we all may not have epic moments like St. Maximilian, literally taking the place of Christ on the cross for another, we are all called to share the joy of the cross of Christ. It is only by the cross that we can ever become the Church Alive.

As you and I prepare for consecration to Jesus through Mary, take time to ponder the cross. Don’t shy away from the pain that you see, be absorbed in the joy that is the reality of His love for you. Also, as you read through each day of the preparation for consecration, don’t get bogged down if you miss a day. Just add that day’s reading to the next day. What is important is to simply be open.

I leave you to contemplate the cross with one of my favorite images to pray with below ... St. Francis embracing Jesus. As Jesus reaches down to you, may you always strain to reach up to him.

Make it a great week, Fr. Tom

As I write this Shepherd’s Voice, we have concluded the first part of our pilgrimage, Days in the Diocese in Wroclaw, Poland. For five days we lived in host families’ homes and got to know the Polish culture and learn a few Polish words. The people of Saint Albert the Great Parish, our host parish, were loving, faith filled and welcoming people.

This year marks 1050 years since the baptism of the Polish people. Three times in its history, Poland was politically wiped out … even to the point of being taken off the map. Gabriel, a gentleman of the parish, who interpreted Fr. Amelian’s (the pastor) homilies during Holy Mass, said, “faith is the juice of the Polish people.” Throughout their history it was their faith which saw them through good times and very bad times. Their hope, their trust, their willingness despite seemingly being abandoned was to remain faithful to God. They always have God in the center of their lives.

This faith is something we must preach, must do and must live. Whether we are from Wroclaw, Iraq, Germany, Canada, Italy, Africa, Spain, Columbia, Mexico, Portugal or France, (these are just a few of the countries we have encountered thus far at WYD), we get through life the best way we can, only in God. It is only in Jesus, always Jesus. Jesus gives us life! Jesus is the juice of life. Speaking for all the pilgrims, we miss you and cannot wait to come home and share our experiences with you. Until then....with love from Poland.

Make it a great week, Fr. Tom

As you read this note, we are concluding the WYD Days in the Diocese, or what I call Mercy Days in Wroclaw, Poland at the host Parish of St. Albert the Great. During these days we have learned about the culture of the polish people, their faith and traditions amongst which is completing a community service project at a local convent, and taken part in Mercy Fest, a celebration of Gods mercy. We leave tomorrow for Kraków where we will gather with the youth of the world and encounter God’s Mercy. Remember to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and the parish website.Know of our prayers for you. Please pray for us.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

Tuesday of this past week our parish World Youth Day pilgrims joined other pilgrims from around the diocese at St. Paul Cathedral for a send-off Mass with Bishop Zubik (see picture below). During his homily the Bishop challenged the pilgrims as they travel to see Christ in the eyes of all the people they encounter. He reminded those gathered to look people in the eye and see Christ, and allow those they will encounter to see Christ in them.

Thinking back on the events of this past week ... the countless shootings, hate crimes, and much more ... what’s on my heart is, the only way to change the culture is to make it a point to look up from the screen. We need to look up and out when walking as we shop; to look those whose path and ours cross throughout the day. A pilgrimage isn’t just a group of teens, a few adults and a priest going off to a foreign land. Our life is a pilgrimage of faith. To live that faith we must strive to see Jesus and not just pass Him by.

Take time to encounter Jesus in those you meet. All you have to do is look them in the eye and see Him. But even more, let them see Christ in you.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

In a little more than one week’s time, our World Youth Day pilgrims will commence their pilgrimage to Kraków, Poland to encounter Christ in his divine mercy. After making and selling over 3,000 pepperoni rolls, collecting countless pennies, having craft fairs, being rented out for work, and many other fundraisers, plus the countless rosaries, Divine Mercy Chaplets and other prayers completed, our 20 pilgrims are ready. Thank you for your support of them.

One will encounter Christ in surprising ways on a pilgrimage. That is what our prayer has been - to encounter Jesus in His mercy. As we journey, we invite you to come with us in prayer. In the narthex today and next weekend is a book of intentions. The pilgrims invite you to include your intentions so that along our journey we may intercede for you and your prayers. They also invite you to follow them on social media and on our parish website. More information will be in next week’s bulletin.

Blessed are the merciful for they will obtain mercy -Matthew 5:7 is the theme for this World Youth Day. You are welcome to visit the website krakow2016.com to get a glimpse of what the pilgrims will encounter along their way.

You, too, can encounter Christ in your daily pilgrimage of life. Enter each day in prayer. Let your prayer be, “Lord, let me see your face.” You will be in awe as to the many ways you will see Jesus face to face.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

Growing up in Lawrence County, there were many opportunities to interact with people of various religious backgrounds. In the small village of West Pittsburgh, there were two churches, Roman Catholic and United Methodist. When I went to junior and senior high school, I had friends who were Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran and a few other religious backgrounds. Most fascinating were the Amish people that we would see when we went to New Castle to go grocery shopping or to Gaylord’s or G. C. Murphy (I’m sure some of you remember those stores).

The Amish freely lived their religious beliefs. Some outward signs of their religious beliefs were the clothes they wore, the horse and buggy they rode, the fact that they did not use electric or gas powered machines, the light blue door on their home when a daughter was of age to marry and even the simple sheet as a curtain on their windows. My point in reminiscing about my childhood memories and fascination with you is to point out the freedom we have to live our religious beliefs.

Tomorrow is July 4th, Independence Day, and a time for picnics, barbecues and fireworks. It is also the last day of the annual Fortnight for Freedom - 14 days that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have asked us to pray for our first and most cherished Liberty. They write in a statement, “We are Catholics. We are Americans. We are proud to be both, grateful for the gift of faith which is ours as Christian disciples, and grateful for the gift of liberty which is ours as American citizens. To be Catholic and American should mean not having to choose one over the other. Our allegiances are distinct, but they need not be contradictory, and should instead be complementary. That is the teaching of our Catholic faith, which obliges us to work together with fellow citizens for the common good of all who live in this land. That is the vision of our founding and our Constitution, which guarantees citizens of all religious faiths the right to contribute to our common life together....Freedom is not only for Americans, but we think of it as something of our special inheritance, fought for at a great price, and a heritage to be guarded now. We are stewards of this gift, not only for ourselves but for all nations and peoples who yearn to be free. Catholics in America have discharged this duty of guarding freedom admirably for many generations.”

Pope Francis stated during his visit to the United States last fall. “Religious freedom certainly means the right to worship God, individually and in community, as our consciences dictate. But religious liberty, by its nature, transcends places of worship and the private sphere of individuals and families. Because religion itself, the religious dimension, is not a subculture; it is part of the culture of every people and every nation.”

Our religious beliefs and our faith have to be a part of our daily life. We as followers of Christ are called to be counter to relativism which is rampant in our society today. Religious Freedom is very important to all of us. Our beliefs must dictate the way we live our lives in the truth of Jesus Christ. May we not take our freedom for granted. May we practice what we profess on Sunday in the way we live, work, dress and in our traditions.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

In three weeks, on Sunday, July 17, we will gather for the event of the summer - the 2016 Parish Family Picnic. We will gather to celebrate our family of faith with Holy Mass at noon and an afternoon of fun for the whole family. We will also burn the mortgage on our parish home. After 21 years, our parish will no longer be in debt. That is real cause for celebration. We will also send off our 18 pilgrims to World Youth Day in Kraków, Poland. They have worked and prayed for close to three years to gather in Poland to pray about God’s mercy with Pope Francis and the youth of the world. We will also welcome home retired long-time pastor of our parish, Fr. Ken Oldenski to celebrate his 50th anniversary of priesthood. These are all great reasons to celebrate. I do hope you will join us.

Speaking of Fr. Ken and his 50th anniversary, instead of individual gifts, I am asking all of us to join together to create a Spiritual Bouquet. You are invited to attend Holy Masses, pray rosaries, divine mercy chaplets, make holy hours during Adoration, fast or any other form of prayer. These prayers will be for the intentions of Fr. Ken, his health, his priesthood and his continued ministry. Simply mark your offering on the display located in the narthex. On the day of our celebration, we will present Fr. Ken with this beautiful spiritual bouquet. So start creating a beautiful bouquet of prayer today.

You are also invited to include your prayer petitions in the book of intentions located on the display in the narthex. Our World Youth Day Pilgrims will lift these intentions in prayer during their pilgrimage.

So come and celebrate, come and pray, come and join your parish family.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

On this Father’s Day I share the following teaching of Pope Francis on the dignity of fatherhood. It was given during his General Audience on 4 February 2015 at Saint Peter’s Square. May God the Father of us all watch over and bless all of his sons whom he has chosen to be the earthly father of His children. May Saint Joseph inspire all “Dads”, watch over them, protect them and their families, and pray for us all.

“Every family needs a father. Today we shall reflect on the value of his role, and I would like to begin with a few expressions that we find in the Book of Proverbs, words that a father addresses to his own son, and it reads like this: ‘My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. My soul will rejoice when your lips speak what is right’(Pr 23:15-16). Nothing could better express the pride and emotion a father feels when he understands that he has handed down to his child what really matters in life, that is, a wise heart. This father does not say: ‘I am proud of you because you are the same as me, because you repeat the things I say and do’. No, he does not say anything so simple to him. He says something much more important, which we can understand in this way: ‘I will be happy every time I see you act with wisdom, and I will be moved every time that I hear you speak with rectitude. This is what I wanted to leave to you, that this one thing become yours: the attitude to feel and act, to speak and judge with wisdom and rectitude. And that you might be like this, I taught you the things you didn’t know, I corrected the errors you didn’t see. I made you feel a profound and at the same time discrete affection, which maybe you did not fully recognize when you were young and unsure. I gave you a testimony of rigour and steadfastness that perhaps you didn’t understand, when you would have liked only complicity and protection. I had first to test myself in the wisdom of my heart, be vigilant of my excesses of sentiment and resentment, in order to carry the weight of the inevitable misunderstandings, to find the right words to make myself understood.’ Now, continues the father, ‘I see that you strive to be this way with your own children, and with everyone, and it moves me. I am happy to be your father’. This is what a wise father, a mature father, says. A father knows all too well what it costs to hand down this heritage: how close, how gentle and how firm to be. But what consolation and what recompense he receives when the children honor this legacy! It is a joy that rewards all the toil, that overcomes every misunderstanding and heals every wound.

(A) good father (must) be present in the family...to share everything, joy and sorrow, hope and hardship. And that he be close to his children as they grow: when they play and when they strive, when they are carefree and when they are distressed, when they are talkative and when they are silent, when they are daring and when they are afraid, when they take a wrong step and when they find their path again; a father who is always present. To say ‘present’ is not to say ‘controlling’! Fathers who are too controlling cancel out their children, they don’t let them develop.

Fathers must be patient. Often there is nothing else to do but wait; pray and wait with patience, gentleness, magnanimity and mercy.

A good father knows how to wait and knows how to forgive from the depths of his heart. Certainly, he also knows how to correct with firmness: he is not a weak father, submissive and sentimental. The father who knows how to correct without humiliating is the one who knows how to protect without sparing himself. Once I heard a father at a meeting on marriage say: ‘Sometimes I have to strike the children lightly... but never in the face so as not to humiliate them’. How beautiful! He has a sense of dignity. He must punish, but he does it in a just way, and moves on.

The Church, our mother, is committed to supporting with all her strength the good and generous presence of fathers in families, for they are the irreplaceable guardians and mediators of faith in goodness, of faith in justice and in God’s protection, like St Joseph.”

Make it a great week!Fr. Tom

Today close to 150 teens, college students and adults take off to be the face of Christ in Mullens, West Virginia. Next week over a dozen of our parish community will take off for Patzun, Guatemala to do the same. You can take part in both of these mission trips while staying right here in our corner of the world. How? Do something! This is the theme of this year’s Appalachia Mission trip. Do something in the merciful name of Christ. You can journey with the missionaries in prayer. Pray for them that they will encounter the mercy of Christ while bringing the presence of Christ to those they serve. The second way to journey with them is to be a Missionary yourself. Do something out of the ordinary for somebody this week. Like the woman who greeted Jesus by washing his feet and anointing them with oil, get down on bended knee and while you are down there, wash another’s feet. When we do something in the name of Jesus, we are fulfilling Jesus’ command to “Go into all the world.”

I am privileged to once again take part in the Appalachia Mission trip, by lending a hand to feed the missionaries. Know that the whole parish will be in our prayers as we celebrate daily Mass.

Make it a great week of mission,Fr. Tom

As the school year ends, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of those high school and college students whoare graduating this year. As they take part in commencement exercises for their particular school, I remind all of our graduates that as they are awarded their diploma, life is only beginning. My dear graduates, the journey begins now. As you go, go with God. In the excitement of celebrating and looking ahead, sometimes you may tend to forget about allowing God in your life. He is always present, even in those times when we are not so present to Him. Saint Paul reminds us in his letter to the Galatians that we are to be authentic in living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Being authentic means we are made to be just like the original. We are made in love and in truth. I think the lesson for all of us, wherever we may be on our journey of life, is to go with God. When we do that, we live in truth and love through Jesus Christ. We may stray here and there a bit, but in the end He is with us, for God can never be against us.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

Every time that we participate in Holy Mass and we are nourished by the Body of Christ, the presence of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit acts in us, shaping our hearts, communicating an interior disposition to us that translates into conduct according to the Gospel. Above all, docility to the Word of God, then fraternity amongst ourselves, the courage of Christian witness, creative charity, the capacity to give hope to the disheartened, to welcome the excluded. In this way the Eucharist fosters a mature Christian lifestyle. The charity of Christ, welcomed with an open heart, changes us, transforms us, renders us capable of loving not according to human measure, always limited, but according to the measure of God. And what is the measure of God? Without measure! The measure of God is without measure. Everything! Everything! Everything! It’s impossible to measure the love of God: it is without measure! And so we become capable of loving even those who do not love us: and this is not easy. To love someone who doesn’t love us…. It’s not easy! Because if we know that a person doesn’t like us, then we also tend to bear ill will. But no! We must love even someone who doesn’t love us! Opposing evil with good, with pardon, with sharing, with welcome. Thanks to Jesus and to his Spirit, even our life becomes “bread broken” for our brothers. And living like this we discover true joy! The joy of making of oneself a gift, of reciprocating the great gift that we have first received, without merit of our own. This is beautiful: our life is made a gift! This is to imitate Jesus. I wish to remind you of these two things. First: the measure of God’s love is love without measure. Is this clear? And our life, with the love of Jesus, received in the Eucharist, is made a gift. As was the life of Jesus. Don’t forget these two things: the measure of the love of God is love without measure. And following Jesus, we, with the Eucharist, make of our life a gift. Jesus, Bread of eternal life, came down from heaven and was made flesh thanks to the faith of Mary Most Holy. After having borne him with ineffable love in herself, she followed him faithfully unto the Cross and to the resurrection. Let us ask Our Lady to help us rediscover the beauty of the Eucharist, to make it the center of our life, especially at Sunday Mass and in adoration.

Pope FrancisJune 2014Saint Peter's Square

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

After the celebration of Pentecost last Sunday, we entered into the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year. The title “ordinary” is anything but because we live in a time of the Spirit which is a time of mystery. Today is the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. There is a story about Saint Augustine who was walking along the seashore reflecting on the Trinity. As he walked, Saint Augustine saw a boy digging a hole in the sand. When he finished digging the hole, he began using a bucket to pour ocean water into the hole. Saint Augustine inquired as to what the boy was doing. The young boy replied, “I’m going to fill the entire ocean into my hole.” Saint Augustine replied, “You cannot possibly pour the contents of the vast ocean, into your small hole.” The young boy responded, “And you cannot fit the mystery of the Holy Trinity into your small brain.” After this the small boy vanished. When we live in a relationship of love with God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are rooted in his merciful love. We are called to mirror this foundation in the ordinary give-and-take of life. We should not confine God into a small hole but live freely in the mystery. Ordinary time is really not that ordinary when we immerse ourselves in a relationship with God our Father, through His Son Jesus, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. How do we do this? By the sign of the Cross with each breath, each word, each action and each day.

Make it a great week,Fr. Tom

Something to remember this week: While I am away please note a change in the daily Mass schedule.

Happy Pentecost! The beautiful prayer to the right is the Pentecost sequence prayed during the Liturgy of Pentecost. If we are realistic with ourselves, then we that know we cannot sustain our faith life without the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit. The Feast of Pentecost (which means fifty) not only culminates the Easter season but is a reminder that we live in the time of the Spirit. Pope Francis said, “Pentecost of the Upper Room, is the Pentecost which endures.” This is why it is important to celebrate life lived in the Spirit every day. The time of the Spirit is now. Jesus promised us the Spirit to help us to live until he comes in glory. I encourage you to clip the sequence prayer out and pray it every day for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit upon you and the Church. May we continue the good work, so that the mission of Jesus and the Church may be fulfilled in us.

Make it a great week, live it in the Spirit,Fr. Tom

On this day as we honor all mothers, I share with you words given by Pope Francis on January 1, 2016, the Feast of Mary Mother of God in his homily. (The) Church invites us to contemplate Mary's divine maternity as an icon of peace. The ancient promise finds fulfillment in her person. She believed in the words of the angel, conceived her Son and thus became the Mother of the Lord. Through her, through her yes, the fullness of time came about, appears to us as a vessel filled to the brim with the memory of Jesus, as the Seat of Wisdom to whom we can have recourse to understand his teaching aright...Mary makes it possible for us to grasp the meaning of events which affect us personally, events which also affect our families, our countries and the entire world. Where philosophical reason and political negotiation cannot arrive, there the powerof faith, which brings the grace of Christ's Gospel, can arrive, opening ever new pathways to reason and to negotiation. Blessed are you, Mary, for you gave the Son of God to our world. But even more blessed are you for having believed in him. Full of faith, you conceived Jesus first in your heart and then in your womb, and thus became the Mother of all believers(cf. Saint Augustine, Sermon 215,4). Send us, O Mother, your blessing... Show us the face of Jesus your Son, who bestows upon the entire world mercy and peace.Amen.

As we pray and discern how to help our youth and community heal and deal with the effects of suicide and find ways to help those who live in darkness and despair, may we all entrust our prayers and our lives to Mary our mother. Let us pray that she may also take us to Jesus.Make it a great week,Fr. Tom